[Grahame, James], a Scottish poet, born in [Glasgow]; bred a lawyer; took to the Church; author of a poem on the "Sabbath," instinct with devout feeling, and containing good descriptive passages (1765-1811).
[Graham's Dyke], a Roman wall extending between the Firths of Forth and Clyde.
[Grahamstown] (16), capital of the eastern province of Cape Colony, 25 m. from the sea and 106 m. NE. of Port Elizabeth; is beautifully situated 1728 ft. above sea-level at the base of the Zuurberg Mountains; has an exceedingly salubrious climate; some fine buildings, and is the seat both of a Catholic and a Protestant bishop.
[Graiæ], three old women in the Greek mythology, born with grey hair, had only one tooth and one eye among them, which they borrowed from each other as they wanted them; were personifications of old age.
[Grail, The Holy], the cup or vessel, said to have been made of an emerald stone, that was used by Christ at the Last Supper, and in which Joseph of Arimathea caught up the blood that flowed from His wounds on the Cross; it was brought to England by Joseph, it is alleged, but after a term disappeared; to recover it formed an object of quest to the Knights of the Round Table, in which Sir Galahad succeeded, when it was seen by certain other knights, but it has not been seen since, for none is permitted to see it or can set eye on it but such as are of a pure heart.
[Gramont] or Grammont, Philibert, Comte de, a celebrated French courtier in the age of Louis XIV.; he greatly distinguished himself in the army, as also at the court by his lively wit and gallant bearing, and soon established himself in the king's favour, but an intrigue with one of the royal mistresses brought about his exile from France; at the profligate court of Charles II of England he found a warm welcome and congenial surroundings; left memoirs which were mainly the work of his brother-in-law, Anthony Hamilton, and which give a marvellously witty and brilliant picture of the licentiousness and intrigue of the 17th-century court life (1621-1707).
[Grampians], 1, a name somewhat loosely applied to the central and chief mountain system of Scotland, which stretches E. and W. right across the country, with many important offshoots running N. and S.; the principal heights are Ben Nevis (4406 ft), Ben Macdhui (4296 ft.), Cairntoul (4200 ft.). 2, A range of mountains in the W. of Victoria, Australia, highest elevation 5600 ft.
[Granada], the last of the ancient Moorish kingdoms to be conquered (1492) in Spain, in the SE. of Andalusia, fronting the Mediterranean, now divided into Granada, Almeria, and Malaga; the modern province (484) has an area of 4928 sq. m.; Granada (72), the capital, is beautifully situated at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, on an eminence 2245 ft. above sea-level, 140 m. SE. of Seville; the Jenil flows past it; has a large university, a cathedral, and monastery; was founded by the Moors in the 8th century, but has been largely rebuilt on modern principles.
[Granada, New] (9), a commercial town in Nicaragua, Central America, on the NW. shore of Lake Nicaragua.
[Granby, John Manners, Marquis of], an English general, eldest son of the third Duke of Rutland; rose to be commander-in-chief of the British army in Germany during the Seven Years' War; distinguished himself at Warburg; in 1763 he was master-general of the ordnance, and in 1766 commander-in-chief of the army; was the victim of some of Junius's most scathing invectives (1721-1770).