428 



GRIS-NEZ 



GROLIER 



Gris-nez, CAPE, a headland (164 feet high) 

 in the French department of Pas-de-Calais, oppo- 

 site Dover, is the point of land nearest to the 

 English shore, the distance being barely 20 miles. 

 About equally distant from Calais on the north- 

 east and Boulogne on the south, the cape marks 

 the dividing line between the North Sea and the 

 English Channel. It has a lighthouse. 



(Prison (also called Huron], a South American 

 weasel (Galictis vittata), is somewhat larger than 

 the European weasel. 



Grisons (Ger. Graubiinden), the largest and 

 the most thinly peopled of the Swiss cantons, is 

 bounded E. by Tyrol and S. by Lombardy. Area, 

 2773 sq. m. ; pop. (1888) 94,810. Nearly half are 

 Germans ; next comes the characteristic Romansch 

 ( q. v. ) element ( 37,000 ), with 1 3,000 Italians. More 

 than half of the whole number are Protestants. 

 The whole canton is an assemblage of mountains 

 intersected by narrow valleys. These last form 

 three groups, of which the first and most im- 

 portant lies along the course of the Rhine, and 

 stretches northward, occupying nearly the whole 

 of the western portion of the canton ; the second, 

 forming the Engadine (q.v.), extends north-east 

 along the course of the Inn ; and the third com- 

 prises several smaller valleys, whose streams run 

 southward, belonging to the basins of the Ticino 

 and the Adige. Pastures and forests occupy a 

 large portion of the canton ; cattle and timber 

 are the principal exports. Numerous mineral 

 springs are found within the canton ; also the 

 health-resorts of Davos, the Upper Engadine, 

 Seewis, &c. Iron, lead, copper, zinc, and silver 

 occur. Within the Grisons too are several passes 

 leading to Italy, such as the Spliigen, St 

 Bernardino, Bernina. The canton is democratic in 

 constitution (see SWITZERLAND). The cantonal 

 capital is Chur or Coire ( q. v. ). 



The country was anciently inhabited by the 

 Rhsetii, who are supposed to have been of Etruscan 

 race (see ETEURIA). It was conquered by the 

 Romans under Augustus, and added by Cnarle- 

 magne to his empire in 807. During the middle 

 ages the Bishop of Chur was the most powerful of 

 the numerous nobles who sought to oppress the 

 people, till they in self-defence formed themselves 

 into leagues. One of these leagues, formed in 1424, 

 was called the gray league (Ger. der graue bund], 

 from the gray home-spun worn by the unionists, and 

 hence the German and French names of the canton 

 Graubiinden and Grisons. In 1471 these separate 

 unions entered into a general federation, which 

 then (1497-98) formed an alliance with the Swiss 

 cantons. See works in German by Jecklin ( 6 vols. 

 Coire, 1874-86). 



Griswold, RUFUS WILMOT, American editor, 

 was born in Vermont, 15th February 1815. After 

 extensive travels at home and in Europe, he learned 

 printing and newspaper work, next became Baptist 

 preacher, then journalist and compiler of books in 

 turn at Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. The 

 most important paper which he edited during his 

 career, 'the International Magazine, was afterwards 

 amalgamated with Harper's Magazine. Griswold 

 died in New York, 27th August 1857. His books 

 are numerous ; but, despite his industry, he was but 

 a poor literary critic. Here the following only can 

 be named : Poets and Poetry of America (1842) ; 

 Poets and Poetry of England in the 19th Century 

 (1845); Prose Writers of America (1846) ; Female 

 Poets of America ( 1848 ) ; and The Republican 

 Court, or American Society in the Days of Washing- 

 ton (1854). He was one of Poe's executors, and 

 the Life which he furnished to the edition of his 

 works (3 vols. 1850) has occasioned much hostile 

 criticism. 



Grit, a coarse-grained arenaceous rock. See 

 SANDSTONE, CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 



Grizzly. See BEAR. 



Groat (Old Low German grote, meaning great), 

 a name given in the middle ages to all thick coins, 

 as distinguished from the ' bracteates ' or thin coins 

 of silver or gold-leaf stamped so as to be hollow on 

 one side and raised on the other. The silver groat 

 current in England (introduced by Edward III.) 

 was equal to four pence. The coin not the name 

 was revived (1836-56) in the modern fourpenny- 

 piece. Groschen, the German equivalent of groats, 

 were till 1873-76 current in the north of Germany, 

 and equal in value to ^th of a thaler, worth l^d. 

 or 1\ cents United States currency. 



Grocyn, WILLIAM, the first who publicly 

 taught Greek at Oxford, was born at Colerne, 

 Wilts, about 1446, and educated at Winchester 

 and New College, Oxford. He pursued his studies 

 afterwards in Italy, acquiring a knowledge of 

 Greek from the Greek exile Chalkondylas ; and 

 settled again in 1491 at Oxford, where Sir Thomas 

 More was among his pupils. When Erasmus 

 visited Oxford he lived in Grocyn's house, and he 

 speaks of him as his 'patronus et pneceptor.' In 

 1506 he became master of Allhallows College, 

 near Maidstone, and here he died in 1519. 



Grodek, a town of Austrian Galicia, 20 miles 

 SSW. of Lemberg, in the centre of a flax -growing 

 region. Pop. 10,742, nearly one-third Jews. 



Grodno, a town of Russia, on the right bank 

 of the Niemen, 148 miles by rail NE. of Warsaw. 

 It has a medical academy and manufactures in 

 cloth and tobacco. The new palace, erected by 

 Augustus III. of Poland, is a handsome edifice. 

 At first a Russian town, Grodno fell to Lithuania 

 in 1241. Here Stephen Bathori died in 1586; 

 here in 1793 the Polish diet ratified the second 

 partition of Poland ; and here, too, Stanislaus 

 Augustus, the last king of Poland, abdicated ( 1795 ). 

 Pop. ( 1895) 50,500. In the neighbourhood are the 

 mineral springs of Drusskenik. The province of 

 Grodno ( area, 14,931 sq. m. ; population, 1,556,442) 

 is an extensive plain, largely covered with pine 

 forests, and in parts swampy. But it is crossed by 

 the ridge that forms the watershed between the 

 Baltic and Black Sea basins. Its largest rivers are 

 the Bug, Narew, and Niemen. Rye, wheat, oats, 

 potatoes, and tobacco are grown on the fertile soil. 

 The province is a seat 4 o? the woollen industry. 

 Trade (in timber, grain, flax, hemp, wool, &c.) is 

 exclusively in the hands of Jews. 



Grog, spirits and cold water, without sugar. 

 The quaint name of grog is said to be derived from 

 a nickname of Admiral Vernon, who in 1745 ordered 

 his sailors to dilute their spirits with water. He 

 was known to his men as 'Old Grog' from his 

 wearing grogram breeches. 



Groining. See GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 



Grolier, JEAN, a famous French bibliophile, 

 was born in 1479 at Lyons. He was attached to 

 the court of Francis L, went to Italy as intendant- 

 general of the army, and was long employed in 

 diplomacy at Milan and at Rome. After his 

 return to France he became Tresorier general, and 

 died at Paris in October 1565. It is his library 

 that lias made Grolier famous. He acquired 

 choice copies of the best works then existing, and 

 had them magnificently and tastefully bound, with 

 the generous inscription, lo. Grolier ii et Amicorum. 

 He had no less than 3000 books, and of these about 

 350 have come to light, bound elegantly in brown 

 calf, both sides ornamented with floral arabesques. 

 The library was dispersed in 1675, and Groliers are 

 now precious prizes to the bibliophile, their prices 

 at auctions varving from 600 to 1200 francs. See 



