GAVELKIND 



(JAY 



117 



ue 



tl>. 



. an<I having repaired to Home, In- devoted 

 him-elf ti tin' iliil'usion of political enlightenment 

 mill patriot if aspiration* among the masses of the 

 Kotuati jiopiilation. Tin 1 PIMM- sanctioned liis 

 political labours, ami appointed liiin almoner of a 

 body "i Iti.iMM) Unman trixips. On the establish 

 iin-iit of tin 1 republic at Konu>, lu> was apjvointed 

 almoner in chiel to tin- national army. I'mler 

 lii^ superintendence, cMicient military hocpitell 

 \\i-ri- organised. Komc having fallen, Gava/zi 

 escaped to England, where he delivered addresses 

 ami lectures. Hi- separated from the Catholic 

 Church, anil was for the rest of liis life a strenu- 

 ously anti-papal ailvocute. From Sent land the 

 Italian orator proceeded to the Tinted States, 

 where he was rather coldly received ; and when 

 he went to Canada hi.s public, appearances, on 

 more than one occasion, nearly caused a riot. 

 (Ja\a//.i was present with Garibaldi at 1'alermo 

 during (lie expedition of 1860. He again visited 

 London in 1870; and after that repeatedly visited 

 Kn^land and Scotland, preaching and lecturing in 

 aid of the (Protestant) Italian Free Church (Lilin-n 

 <'/iii:i<i), of which he was a prominent leader. He 

 died 9th January 1889. 



(lUVelkilld. The origin of this legal term is 

 involved in some obscurity, and more than one 

 derivation has Iteen given. Lord Coke's opinion 

 was that it was derived from gave all kinde ( Teut. 

 '/ ci/n), meaning the custom which gives right 

 of Mil-cession in land to all children equally. The 

 better opinion, however, seems to be that it is 

 rived from the Saxon word gavel (or gafol), 

 liich signifies rent or customary services in lieu 

 thereof, and kind i.e. nature or quality. Thus 

 gavel kind was used to express land which paid this 

 kind of rent-service, as distinguished from the 

 inary feudal tenure of knight-service. It is the 

 inion of Blackstone, endorsed by Skeat, that 

 e true origin of this custom is Celtic (Irish, 

 bhailcine), while some recent investigators as 

 Iton in his Origins of English History (1881) 

 ink that we must loolc for its source even farther 

 k in pre-Aryan times. 



Before 1066 gavelkind prevailed all over England 

 and Wales (see Stephen's Com. i. 213), but with the 

 Norman Conquest came feudal laws, and the right 

 of primogeniture took its place. At the present 

 day it survives only in the county of Kent and a 

 feu isolated places in England. It was specially 

 abolished as regards Wales by 34 and 35 Henry 

 VIII. chap. 26. In Kent, however, the custom is 

 so universal that it is presumed by the courts of 

 law to exist in any question affecting Kentish 

 lands, and it is necessary in such case to plead that 

 tin- lands have been disgavelled by special act of 

 parliament. The reason why the county of Kent 

 should have been permitted to retain this ancient 

 tenure as one of its ' liberties,' in view of the almost 

 universal introduction of feudal rules into the rest 

 of Kngland, is not clear. There is an explanation 

 of a legendary character that William the Con- 

 queror owed his life to some Kentish men, who 

 immediately after the battle of Hastings surrounded 

 him with boughs so as to form a sort of moving 

 wood, and that he out of gratitude thereupon con- 

 Tinned their ancient rights to them and their 



fellows. 



The main characteristic of the tenure of gavel- 

 kind is that succession to the land passes in the 

 right line to all the sons equally and not to the 

 eldest son. Failing sons, it goes to all the 

 daughters as heirs- portioners. Further, the right 

 presentation takes place, so that, if one of 

 al sons should die, his issue (daughters in this 

 eM-nt equally with sons) take in his place. 

 Succession in the collateral line is similar ; lor, if 

 one brother die, the succession passes to all his 



In -Hi IKTS e|tially and their i-siie jnn repreaentittinnit. 

 In addition to these peculiarities in the matter of 

 succession, the following features of gavelkind 

 tenure may \te noticed : ( 1 ) A wife takes by way of 

 dower one half instead of one third of the land, and 

 a husband In-cornes tenant by courtesy of one half 

 of the land (whether issue have leen lorn or not) 

 so long as he remains unmarried ; (2) the tenant j- 

 of age sufficient to make a contract or alienate his 

 estate by feofl'ment at the age of fifteen; (3) the 

 gavelkind lands did not formerly escheat in case .,f 

 an attainder for felony, the maxim l>eing ' the father 

 to the bough, the son to the plough ;' but all lands 

 now stand in the same position in this respect 

 (Williams, On Heal Property, 130). 



<-;n <->f on. PIERS in.. See EDWARD II. 



(a vial (Gavialis), a genus of reptiles of the 

 Crocodile (q.v.) order, conspicuously differing from 

 true crocodiles and from alligators in the great 

 length and slenderness of the snout. The teeth are 

 very numerous, about 120 ; they are more equal in 

 size than those of the other animals of this order. 



Gavial ( Gavudii gangeticus ). 



The best-known species, G. gangeticus, inhabits the 

 Ganges. It attains a length of 24 feet ; but, owing 

 to the slenderness of its snout, it is esteemed less 

 dangerous than a true crocodile of smaller size. 

 The gavial feeds chiefly on fishes and carcasses, 

 and preys more casually upon mammals. A 

 cartilaginous swelling at the extremity of the 

 mu/zle seems to have given rise to ^Elian's state- 

 ment that the crocodile of the Ganges had a horn 

 at the tip of its snout. In some parts e.g. 

 Malabar, the gavial is held sacred, worshipped, 

 and petted. A smaller species from Borneo and 

 Java is distinguished as G. schlegelii. See CROCO- 

 DILE. 



Gavotte, a French dance of a lively yet 

 dignified character. The name is said to be 

 derived from the Gavots, the people of the pays 

 de ilnp. The music is in common time, moderately 

 quick, and always begins on the third beat of the 

 bar ; each of the two sections of which it consists 

 is usually repeated. It is frequently introduced in 

 the Suites (see SUITE) of the elder classical com- 

 posers (Bach, &c.) ; and recent imitations of this 

 and other old dances are so numerous as to become 

 wearisome. 



liny. JOHN, the youngest son of William Gay 

 of Bafnstaple, was llorn in 1685. Although of an 

 old family, his father was in reduced circumstances; 

 and Gay, after being educated at the local grammar- 

 school, was apprenticed to a London silk-mercer. 

 Disliking this occupation, he soon abandoned it, 

 and, having spent some months at home, returned 

 to London to live by letters. In 1708 he published 

 his first poem, Wine, in blank verse, ana in 1711 



