



flower* 

 prvad 



MMMli 



GENTILE 



GENUFLEXION 



137 



S 



were of great l>eauty, and a general astringency 

 rvadee the order, whence many are of pant or 



present medicinal repute. See CHIRATA, BUCK- 



:lld 'KM Ali:\. 



<.rlitile (Lat. gent His, from yen*, 'a nation'), 

 in Scripture, a member of a non-Jewish nation, an 

 alii'ii, an untaliever, a non-Christian. The Heb. 

 </<>i, a, pi of gut, 'nation,' is used both of foreigners 

 in general and foreigners as enemies, as heathens ; 

 M> in tin- New Te.stament the! ireek it/no, 'nations,' 

 ami Hf/i'i'-nes, 'Greeks,' though sometimes meaning 

 simply foreigners, non-Jews, usually had the invidi- 

 ous sen>c of untaliever, heathen. Compare the 

 Greek usi- of Barbarian (q.v.). 



<.niiilr du Fabriano. See FAUKIANO. 



l.rnlillv. a southern suburb of Paris, on the 

 circular railway, at the foot of the Bicetre hill. It 

 ha* a Dumber of villas, tanneries, and manufactures 

 of biscuits, vinegar, mustard, and soap. Fop. 

 8) 14,278, many of them employed in the 

 neiglilMmring i|uarries and in washing. 



Gentleman* in its original and strict sense, a 

 person of noble descent. The first part of the word 

 romi's from the Latin gentilis, which signifies 

 belonging to a gens or family. The terms gentle- 

 man and nobleman were formerly identical in 

 nit-ailing ; but the popular signification of each has 

 become gradually modified, that of the former 

 having widened, of the latter having become more 

 restricted. The continental noble ( Fr. ) or adel ( Ger. ) 

 still retains the original sense of our gentleman. The 

 broadly-marked distinction between the nobleman 

 i>r gentleman and the rest of the community is 

 one of the most prominent features of medieval 

 life, and the source from which the less abrupt 

 radations of rank in modern society have been 

 e\ eloped. The gentry of England had formerly 

 many privileges recognised by law. If a churl or 

 iteasant defamed the honour of a gentleman, the 

 latter had his remedy in law, but if one gentle- 

 man defamed another, the combat was allowed. In 

 equal crimes a gentleman was punishable with less 

 severity than a churl, unless the crime were heresy, 

 treason, or excessive contumacy. A gentleman 

 condemned to death was beheaded and not hanged, 

 and his examination was taken without torture. 

 In giving evidence the testimony of a gentleman 

 outweighed that of a churl. A churl might not 

 challenge a gentleman to combat, quia conditiones 

 i m /litres. After the introduction of heraldry the 

 right to armorial ensigns or insignia gentilitia be- 

 came (as the jus imaginum had been among the 

 .ins) the test of gentility or nobility. Gentility 

 as of course inherited ; but it was also within the 

 prerogative of a sovereign prince to ennoble or make 

 a gentleman of a person of a lower grade whom 

 he thought worthy of the distinction, and whose 

 descendants accordingly became gentlemen. We 

 have examples in England of the direct exercise 

 of this prerogative by the sovereign as late as the 

 reign of Henry VI., the patent of gentility or 

 nobility being accompanied with no title of honour, 

 but merely with a coat of arms, the grant contain- 

 ing! lie words iiii/ti/ifiiitnts nobilemque facimns et 

 i-ri-innits . . . et in signnm hvjusmocli nnhilitutis 

 HI-HI, t et armortim insignia damns et concedunn*.' 

 Letters of nobility of a similar description are 

 granted by the emperor in Germany and Austria 

 to th present day, conferring no title, but only the 

 status of adel ( nobleman or gentleman ) indicated 

 by the prefix von to the surname. A gentleman 

 of ancestry was ( or is ) something lieyonu a gentle- 

 man of blood and coat-armour : he must be able 

 to show purity of blood for five generations i.e. 

 that his ancestors on every side For four genera- 

 tions back viz. his eight great-great-grandfathers 

 aii'l eight great-great-grandmothers were all en- 



titled to coat-armour. This purity of blood i- 

 still in-i-trd on for certain offices in Germany 

 and Austria. In England the concetMion of in- 

 signia gentilitia (or of creating a gentleman) ban 

 long been deputed to the kings of arm-, the 

 prerogative of the sovereign in the matter of 

 rank Ming directly exercised only in creating peers, 

 baronete, or knights. In our own day, while the 

 stricter meaning of the word i.- retained in the 

 expression 'gentleman by birth,' the leas abrupt 

 gradation of ranks and the courtesy of society have 

 caused the term gentleman to Vie applied in a some- 

 what loose sense to any one whose education, 

 profession, or perhaps whose income, raises him 

 above ordinary trade or menial service, or tit a 

 man of polite and refined manners and ideas. See 

 ESQUIRE, NOBILITY. 

 Gentleman-commoner. See OXFORD 



( University ). 



Gentlemen-at-arms (formerly called the 

 GENTLEMEN-PENSIONERS), the bodyguard of the 

 British sovereign, and, with the exception of the 

 yeomen of the guard, the oldest corps in the 

 British service. It was instituted in 1509 by 

 Henry VIII. , and now consists of 1 captain, who re- 

 ceives 1200 a year; 1 lieutenant, 500; 1 standard- 

 bearer, 310; 1 clerk of the cheque, 120; and 

 40 gentlemen, each with 70 a year. The pay is 

 issued from the privy purse. Until 1861 the com- 

 missions were purchasable, as in other regiments ; 

 but by a royal command of that year this system 

 was abolished, and commissions as gentlemen-at- 

 arms have since only been given to military officers 

 of service and distinction. The attendance of the 

 gentlemen-at-arms is only required at drawing- 

 rooms, levees, coronations, and similar important 

 state ceremonies. The appointment, which is in 

 the sole gift of the crown, on the recommendation 

 of the commander-in-chief, can be held in conjunc- 

 tion with half-pay or retired full-pay, but not 

 simultaneously with any appointment which might 

 involve absence at the time of the officer's services 

 being required by the sovereign. 



Gentoo' (Portuguese Gentio, 'Gentile'), the 

 term applied by old English writers to the Hindus, 

 or natives of India ; and in especial to the Gentoo 

 laws, a code compiled by Sir \\ illiam Jones. 



Gentz, FRIEDRICH VON, politician and writer, 

 was born at Breslau, 2d May 1764, and, shortly 

 after entering the Prussian civil service, pub- 

 lished his first work, a translation of Burke's 

 Essay on the French Revolution (1793). In 1786 

 he entered the public service of Prussia, but in 1802 

 exchanged into that of Austria, having a short 

 time previously paid a visit to England, where he 

 became acquainted with Mackintosh, Grenville, 

 Pitt, and other public men. Throughout the 

 struggle against Napoleon he distinguished himself 

 by writings full of burning hatred to the French 

 emperor. At the Congress of Vienna in 1814 

 Gentz was appointed first secretary, and be held 

 the same post in nearly all the subsequent con- 

 ferences down to that of Verona (1822). From 

 1810 onwards he laboured as an adherent of 

 Metternich. His writings, which are of a mis- 

 cellaneous character, are distinguished for the 

 elegance and correctness of their style. But bis 

 pen was always on sale to the highest bidder ; 

 ami he drew the supplies by which he met his 

 lavish private expenditure from more than one 

 government outside Austria. He died 9th June 

 1832. See his Life by K. Mendelssohn- Bart holdy 

 (1867). 



Genuflexion, the act of bending the knees in 

 worship or adoration. It is of frequent occurrence 

 in the ritual of the Catholic Church : Catholics 

 genuflect passing before the taltcinacle where t!ie 



