(iOTHA.M 



GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 313 



the putative compiler were doubtless intended liy 



the printer t< signify Andrew Itoorde (<j.v. ), who 



popularly regarded an 'a fellow of intinite 



lint tliere is no reason to suppose that 



Boorde had any hand in the work, his iuitialH 



being placecl on the title page -US also Oil that of 

 the ./i.v/.v <>/' Xfiii/tti ill order to promote its sale. 

 Long In-fore tlie men of Cot ham were Middled witli 

 the unenv iaMe reputation of being typical block- 

 heads similar jests had Keen told at the expense 

 of i he people of Norfolk, as we learn from a curious 



Latin poem entitled I h-si-i-i/itii) Xorfolciensium, 

 written in the 12th century hy a monk of Peter- 

 borough, which is printed in Wright's Early 

 .J///V/I //.> mill other Latin Poems. In this ' poem ' 

 occurs the familiar jest of the man who was riding 

 on liorsehack with a sack of meal, and considerately 

 placed the sack on his own shoulders to lighten the 

 none a story which reappears in the Gotharnite 

 drolleries and ,in the Biaarrures of the Sieur 

 < !n nl a nl, hy Etienne Tabourot (1549-90), and 

 which is at the present day current in Ceylon. 



The Gothamite jest most generally known is that 

 of the attempt of the villagers to hedge in a cuckoo, 

 so that it should 'sing' all the year round. Among 

 other witless exploits they tried to drown an eel j 

 that had eaten up all the Jish in their pond ; they 

 fastened their rents on a hare which they had 

 caught, and sent it off to their landlord ; a smith 

 hnrned down his smithy hy thrusting into the 

 thatch a red-hot ploughshare, to destroy a wasp's \ 

 nest ; and twelve of them went a-fishing, and before ! 

 iet ii ruing home one counted their numher to see ! 

 whether all were safe, hut omitted to include him- 

 self, whereupon they weened that one of them was 

 drowned, and were lamenting this misfortune, when 

 a traveller coming up, and learning the cause of 

 their distress, soon set their minds at ease. Such 

 jests are mutatis mutandis common to almost all : 

 the races of mankind, from Iceland to Japan, from 

 Ceylon to the West Highlands of Scotland ; and it I 

 is curious to find that the inhabitants of some par- j 

 ticular district or village are popularly held up as j 

 arrant simpletons. In Britain, besides the men ] 

 of Gotham, the ' carles of Austwick ' in Yorkshire, 

 the villagers near Marlborough Downs in Wilt- 

 shire, the 'gowks of Gordon ' in Berwickshire, and 

 the folk or Assynt in Sutherlandshire ; in Ger- 

 many, the SchiluMmrgers ; in Holland, the people 

 of r\ampen ; in Belgium, the townsfolk of Dinant ; 

 in France, the inhabitants of Saint-Maixent, 

 are credited with all sorts of absurdities. The 

 citizens of Abdera, Sidonia, &c. were the noodles 

 of the ancient Greeks, and not a few of the 

 so-called jests of Hierocles reappear in our early 

 Knglish collections of facetife, with a blundering 

 Welshman or Frenchman in place of the pedant of 

 the Axteia, and in more recent compilations 'Joe 

 Miller 'and its congeners the conventional Irish- 

 man or Highlander. The similarity of simpleton 

 Mones in countries far apart at once suggests the 

 question of their origin and diffusion, as in the case 

 of popular tales generally. No doubt in many 

 instances they sprung up independently, for human 

 nature is everywhere much alike; but it is equally 

 certain that a considerable number have been 

 b<rrowed by one people from another, sometimes 

 imported orally, most frequently taken from written 

 souives. But however widely intern scholars may 

 differ in opinion regarding the genealogy of popular 

 fictions, their virtual identity among divers races 

 is an interesting evidence of the kinship of man. 



The Tales of thr Mud Men of Gotham continued to be 

 issued in chap-book form down to the second decade of the 

 19th century. The first reprint of the original work was 

 made in 1840, with an introduction by Mr J. (). HalliwelL 

 The Tales were also printed in W. ( ,'. Ha/.litt's Shakespeare 

 Jut-bookt (1864); in John Ash ton's Chap-books of the 



i Century (1882); ami in K. II. Cunningham*! 

 Amusing l'rt>t Cliai>-lnmks (IKH'J). K.r a compendious 

 collection of simpleton stories of which the Gotkamite 

 tales form but a trifling part see W. A. Clouston'n Bk 

 of Noodles (Loud. 1HHK), which will In- foumi to contain 

 references to all the important books dealing with the 

 .subject, oriental and other. Bee also W. J. Thorns, in the 

 Fun-Kin Quarterly Review (1837, No. 40) ; and DcuUchtr 

 VoUutomor, by Moritz busch (IJerlin, 1877). 



4.oi hard. See Sr GOTTHARD. 



CiotlH'llhurg iSwed. Goteborg), next to Stock- 

 holm the most important town of Sweden, stands 

 at the mouth of the Gota, in 57 42' N. lat. and 11" 

 58' E. long. Although originally founded by 

 Gustavus Adolphus in 1618-2), the town, in 

 consequence of numerous fires, is quite modern 

 regularly built and clean, with several canals, 

 crossed by numerous bridges. The harbour is 

 excellent, and seldom obstructed by ice. The 

 few buildings which deserve special mention are 

 the exchange, cathedral, and town-hall. There is 

 a museum (art, /oology, industry) besides a fine 

 garden belonging to the Horticultural Society. 

 The more important industries embrace ship 

 building, iron-working, sugar-refining, the manu- 

 facture of .matches, paper, wood pulp, arid jiorter, 

 and herring-fishing. The exports consist prin- 

 cipally of iron, timber, grain, butter, matches, 

 paper, wood pulp, zinc ore, hides ; the imports of 

 coal, iron, salt, flour, grain, machinery, oils, rice, 

 wines and spirits, and sugar, the annual value of 

 imports and exports being each about 3 millions. 

 The port is entered and cleared by about 5070 

 vessels of 1,815,380 tons burden every year. The 

 commercial importance of Gothenburg dates from 

 the Continental blockade of 1806, when it became 

 the chief British dep6t in northern Europe. The 

 town has given its name to the Gothenburg 

 Licensing System, which originated here in 1865. 

 All the wine and spirit shops are kept by a 

 company licensed by the town authorities, and 

 are conducted bv salaried managers ; all profits 

 remaining after tlie company has been allowed five 

 per cent on its capital go into the town treasury. 

 See LICENSING LAWS. Pop. ( 1877) 71,707 ; ( 1888) 

 99,647; (1891) 107,965 ; (1895) 111,250. 



Gothic Architecture. Under this title are 

 comprised the various styles of architecture which 

 prevailed in western Europe from the middle of the 

 12th century till the revival of classic architecture 

 in the 16th century. The term Gothic was at first 

 bestowed by the Renaissance architects on the 

 medieval styles as a term of reproach. This 

 epithet they applied to every kind of medieval art 

 which had existed from the decline of the classic 

 taste till its revival, all other styles being by 

 them considered as barbarous and Gothic. The 

 name has now, however, become generally adopted, 

 and has outlived the reproach at first implied in it. 

 It has also become limited and defined in its 

 application. During the 19th century the arts 

 of the middle ages have been attentively studied, 

 and their origin and history carefully traced ; and 

 as the knowledge of these styles has increased, a 

 feeling of admiration has succeeded to that of con 

 tempt, and Gothic now ranks as one of the noblest 

 and completest styles of architecture. 



Origin. The origin of Gothic architecture has 

 given rise to many very ingenious speculations. It 

 has been said that the style was copied directly 

 from nature ; that the pointed arches and ribs of 

 the vaults were imitated from the overarching 

 branches of trees ; and that the stems of an avenue 

 were the originals of the pillars of the Gothic aisles. 

 Others have strenuously maintained that the 

 invention of the pointed arch was a mere accident, 

 arising from this form having leen observed in the 

 interlacing of the circular arches of a Norman 



