[Gloucester]: 1 (39), the capital of Gloucestershire, on the Severn, 38 m. NE. of Bristol; a handsomely laid out town, the main lines of its ground-plan testifying to its Roman origin; conspicuous among several fine buildings is the cathedral, begun in 1088 (restored in 1853) and exhibiting features of Perpendicular and Norman architecture; the river, here tidal, is spanned by two stone bridges, and a flourishing commerce is favoured by fine docks and a canal; chemicals, soap, &c., are manufactured. 2 (25), a seaport of Massachusetts, U.S., 30 m. NE. of Boston; is a favourite summer resort, an important fishing-station, and has an excellent harbour; granite is hewn in large quantities in the neighbouring quarries.
[Gloucester, Robert of], English chronicler; was a monk of Gloucester Abbey, and lived in the 13th century; his chronicle, which is in verse, traces the history of England from the siege of Troy to 1271, the year before the accession of Edward I.
[Gloucestershire] (600), a west midland county of England, which touches Warwick in the centre of the country, and extends SW. to the estuary of the Severn; it presents three natural and well-defined districts known as the Hill, formed by the Cotswold Hills in the E.; the Vale, through which the Severn runs, in the centre; the Forest of Dean (the largest in England) in the W.; coal is wrought in two large fields, but agricultural and dairy-farming are the main industries; antiquities abound; the principal rivers are the Wye, Severn, Lower and Upper Avon, and Thames; [Bristol] (q. v.) is the largest town.
[Glück, Christoph von], a German musical composer and reformer of the opera; made his first appearance in Vienna; studied afterwards for some years under San-Martini of Milan, and brought out his first opera "Artaxerxes," followed by seven others in the Italian style; invited to London, he studied Händel, attained a loftier ideal, and returned to the Continent, where, especially at Vienna and Paris, he achieved his triumphs, becoming founder of a new era in operatic music; in Paris he had a rival in Piccini, and the public opinion was for a time divided, but the production by him of "Iphigénie en Aulide" established his superiority, and he carried off the palm (1714-1787).
[Gnomes], a set of imaginary beings misshapen in form and of diminutive size, viewed as inhabiting the interior of the earth and presiding over its secret treasures.
[Gnostics], heretics, consisting of various sects that arose in the Apostolic age of Christianity, and that sought, agreeably to the philosophic opinions which they had severally embraced, to extract an esoteric meaning out of the letter of Scripture and the facts especially of the Gospel history, such as only those of superior speculative insight could appreciate; they set a higher value on Knowledge (gnosis, whence their name) than Faith; thus their understanding of Christianity was speculative, not spiritual, and their knowledge of it the result of thinking, not of life; like the Jews they denied the possibility of the Word becoming flesh and of a realisation of the infinite in the finite; indeed, Gnosticism was at once a speculative and a practical denial that Christ was God manifest in the flesh, and that participation in Christianity was, as He presented it (John vi. 53), participation in His flesh. See [Christianity].
[Goa] (495), a Portuguese possession in W. India, lying between the Western Ghâts and the sea-coast, 250 m. SE. of Bombay; large quantities of rice are raised in it; is hilly on the E. and covered with forests; it was captured in 1510 by Albuquerque. Old Goa, the former capital, has fallen from a populous and wealthy city into utter decay, its place being taken by Nova Goa or Panjim (8), on the Mandavi, 3 m. from the coast.
[Gobelins, Gilles and Jean], brothers, celebrated dyers, who in the 15th century introduced into France the art of dyeing in scarlet, subsequently adding on tapestry-weaving to their establishment; their works in Paris were taken over by government in Louis XIV.'s reign, and the tapestry, of gorgeous design, then put forth became known as Gobelins; Le Brun, the famous artist, was for a time chief designer, and the tapestries turned out in his time have a world-wide celebrity; the works are still in operation, and a second establishment, supported by government, for the manufacture of Gobelins exists at Beauvais.
[Godav`ari], an important river of India, rises on the E. side of W. Ghâts, traverses in a SE. direction the entire Deccan, and forming a large delta, falls into the Bay of Bengal by seven mouths after a course of 900 m.; its mighty volume of water supplies irrigating and navigable canals for the whole Deccan; it is one of the 12 sacred rivers of India, and once in 12 years a bathing festival is celebrated on its banks.
[Godet, Frederick], Swiss theologian, born at Neuchâtel; became professor of Theology there; author of commentaries on St. John's and Luke's Gospels and on the Epistles to the Romans and the Corinthians, along with other works; b. 1812.