Gloriana.—In Spenser’s Faërie Queene, the “greatest glorious queen of Faëry land.”
Glumdalca (glum-dal´kä).—Tom Thumb, Fielding. Queen of the giants, captive in the court of King Arthur.
Glumdalclitch (glum-dal´klich).—Gulliver’s Travels, Swift. A girl nine years old “and only forty feet high.” Being such a “little thing,” the charge of Gulliver was committed to her during his sojourn in Brobdingnag.
Glumms.—Peter Wilkins, Robert Pullock. The male population of the imaginary country Nosmubdsgrsutt, visited by Peter Wilkins. Both males and females had wings which served both for flying and for clothes.
Godiva (gō-dī´vä).—A poem by Alfred Tennyson. The story of the lady and Peeping Tom of Coventry is told in full by Dugdale. Godiva was the wife of Leofric, earl of Mercia, and undertook to ride naked through the town if he would remit a tax under which the people groaned. The earl consented and the lady kept her word.
Golden Ass, The.—A romance in Latin by Apuleius. It is the adventures of Lucian, a young man who had been transformed into an ass, but still retained his human consciousness. It tells us the miseries which he suffered at the hands of robbers, eunuchs, magistrates, and so on, till the time came for him to resume his proper form. It is full of wit, racy humor, and rich fancy, and contains the exquisite episode of Cupid and Psyche.
Golden Legend, The.—The title of an ecclesiastical work in one hundred and seventy-seven sections, dating from the thirteenth century, written by one James de Voragine, a Dominican monk, and descriptive of the various saints’ days in the Roman calendar. It is deserving of study as a literary monument of the period, and as illustrating the religious habits and views of the Christians of that time.
Goneril (gon´er-il).—The oldest of the three daughters to King Lear, in Shakespeare’s tragedy. Having received her moiety of Lear’s kingdom, the unnatural daughter first abridged the old man’s retinue, then gave him to understand that his company was not wanted and sent him out a despairing old man to seek refuge where he could find it. Her name is proverbial for filial ingratitude.
Gonzalo (gon-zä´lō).—An honest old counselor in Shakespeare’s Tempest, a true friend to Prospero.