GODFATlll K 



l>\ tin -tate, exists at Beau vain. For other tex- 



t ili- i)f H similar description, - I ' \ri - 1 \;\ . 



Gobi. DKSKRTOK. See ASIA (Vol. I. p. 486), 

 ii ncirr< 



Goblin (Fr. gobelin, Low Lat. cobalus, tier. 

 kofin/tt, (lr. kobaiot), a mi-clm-voiis sprite, also 

 called ll<iii<j<>/>/in. See Pi \H>M>UM.\ , KKOWMES. 



Gohony, or GOBONATED. See BOKOUR. 



Goby ((iobina) t a genus of carnivorous shore 

 fishes, :iliiiinl;i!it on all temperate, and vet more on 

 tropical roa-t-. The genii.- is t\pe of a family, 

 Gobiidee, included among the aeanthoiiterons IMIIIV 

 li-hcs. Tin 1 gobies arc generally small ; the bodies 

 are scaly ; of the two dorsal fins, the anterior has 

 usually six flexible spinous rays ; the ventrals are 

 united t<> form an adhesive disc, hy means of which 

 the lishes cling to the rocks, withstanding the rush 

 of the waves ; there is no swim-hladder. Their 

 favourite habitat is on rocky coasts; 'many,' 

 Giinther says, ' seem to delight in darting from 

 place to place in the rush of the water which breaks 

 upon the shore ; ' others live in hrackish water, and 

 not a few have become acclimatised in lakes. In 

 various degrees the gobies change their colour to 



The Black Goby (Oobius niger). 



suit the ground on which they rest. The males of 

 some species build nests of seaweeds and sea-wrack, 

 and watch these jealously till, and even after, the 

 hatching of the eggs which their mates have laid. 



The genus includes about 300 species, of which 

 several are common on British coasts. Of the latter 

 the Black Goby ( G. niger ) is the largest, but only 

 measures 5 or 6 inches ; G. ruthensparri, G. minutus, 

 <1. ixiganellus, are other well-known species. They 

 make interesting inmates of aquaria. The White 

 Goby ( Lutrinii-iil n.-i iillinn) is a very small trans- 

 parent fish, found on some British and European 

 coasts, remarkable as ' the first instance of an annual 

 vertebrate,' for it seems only to live one year. There 

 are numerous genera very nearly related to Gobius, 

 while not far oft' is the genus Periopthalmus, the 

 meml>er8 of which have greatly protruded eyes and 

 are accustomed to hunt along the ebb-tide shore, 

 hopping and leaping with some agility. The 

 Dragonets (q.v.) are also allied. See Gunther's 

 Study of Fishes (Ed'm. 1880). 



God. See RELIGION, THEISM. 



God'alininff, a municipal borough of Surrey, 

 34 miles SW. of London. Hither in 1872 the cele- 

 brated school of Charterhouse (q.v. ) was removed 

 from London. Pop. 2505. 



Goda'vari, one of the principal rivers of India, 

 ami the largest of the Deccan, rises within 50 

 miles of the Indian Ocean, and flows south-east 

 across the peninsula into the Bay of Bengal, which 

 it enters by seven mouths, after a course of 898 

 miles, its total drainage area being estimated at 

 112,000 sq. m. For some miles before the river 

 bursts through the barrier of the Eastern Glint*. 

 its picturesque scenery has earned for it the name 

 of the Indian Rhine ; its stream, which, after 

 receiving the Manjera, the noble Pranhita, the 

 Indravati, Tal, and Sabari, has attained a breadth 

 of from one to two miles, is here contracted In- 

 precipitous banks, until the whole volume of water 



through a rocky gorge 200 yards wide. The 



magnilici nt </./ <</ <>r dam at the nead of the delta, 

 throwing ofl' three main canals with a distributing 

 length of .V2K mile-, deserves notice; thijM irrigated, 

 the entire delta has Iwcn tinned into a great garden 

 of perennial crops. The navigation of the upper 

 waters in impeded by three impassable rocky 

 barriers or rapids within a space of 150 mile* ; the 

 works undertaken in 1801 to remove the-c obstruc- 

 tions, or to pa-- them hy mean- of eanal-. were 

 abandoned ten year.- later. The liudavari is one of 

 the twelve sacred rivers of India, and the great 

 bathing festival, called Piuthkannn, is held on it. 

 banks once in twelve years. The ditttm-t of Goda 

 vari, area 7345 sq. in., pop. (1MU1) '2,<)7S,782, em- 

 braces the delta. Chief town Cocanada, 



Goddard, An \ 1:1.1.1. A, pianist, was born near 

 St .Mali., in Brittany, in 1836, and received lessons 

 from Kalkbrenner, Thalberg, and Macfarren. She 

 made her debut at the Grand National Concerts in 

 London in 1850, and in 1854-56 performed with 

 great success in the principal cities of France, < ! 

 many, and Italy. In 1860 she married Mr Davison 

 ( 1813-85 ), Times musical critic. After her farewell 

 to the British public in 1873, she made a tour in 

 the United States, returning to England in 1876. 



Goderich. a port of Ontario, on Lake Huron, 

 160 miles WNW. of Buffalo by rail, with eight 

 salt-wells. Pop. (1891 ) 3839. 



Goderich, VISCOUNT, a British statesman, 

 afterwards Earl of Ripon (q.v. ), who was head of 

 the short-lived Goderich administration (1827-28). 



Godcsberg, a village of Prussia, on the Rhine, 

 4 miles S. of Bonn. It lias a mineral spring, and a 

 ruined castle (1213). Pop. ( 1 890 ) 3844. 



Godet. FREDERIC, theologian, was born at 

 Neuchatel in Switzerland, October 25, 1812, studied 

 there and at Berlin and Bonn, and after having been 

 tutor to the Crown-prince of Prussia, he became 

 in 1850 professor of Theology at Neuchatel. In 

 1873 he left the state church and was appointed 

 professor by the Free Church of Neuchatel. He is 

 best known for his great commentary on St John's 

 Gospel (1863-65; 3ded. 1881-85; Eng. trans. 1877), 

 followed by commentaries on Luke (trans. 1875), 

 Romans (trans. 1881), and Corinthians, besides 

 Conferences Apologetiquen, Etudes Bibliques ( trans. 

 as Old Testa merit Studies mn\ Xeio Testament Studies, 

 1875-76 ), and a work on the theology of the New 

 Testament ( 1893 ). He died in 1900. 



Godfather and Godmother (also called 



Sponsors), the persons who, by presenting a 

 child for the sacrament of baptism, which is 

 regarded as a new spiritual birth, are reputed to 

 contract towards the newly baptised the relation 

 of spiritual parentage. In the Roman Catholic 

 Church this spiritual relationship is regarded as a 

 species of kindred (whence the name gossip, or 

 God-sib, ' spiritually akin ' ), and constitutes an 

 impediment of marriage between the sponsors uj>on 

 the one hand and the baptised and the parents of 

 the baptised on the other. Anciently, this impedi- 

 ment arose also between the sponsors themselves ; 

 and it still extends much further in the Eastern 

 than in the Western Church, although in the former 

 it can arise only from baptism, whereas in the 

 Human Church the candidate for confirmation also 

 is presented by a sponsor, though usually one of the 

 same sex. 



In the Anglican Church, by whose rule two god- 

 fathers and a godmother are required at the baptism 

 of a male, and two godmothers and a godfather at 

 that of a female, no impediment of marriage arises 

 from the relation of the sponsors to the baptised. 

 The parents of the Iwvptised are not permitted to 

 act as sponsor- in the Roman Catholic Church, one 



