OAY, JOHN. 



GAY-LUSSAC. 



it 



and his; dtoonnea, delivered from the pulpit* of Tiurions cities and 

 towns of Italy, attracted large congregations. When Pius IX., after 

 his accession to the papal chair in 1S46, announced the liberal course 

 of policy which he intended to adopt, and which for several months 

 he peraevercd in carrying out, Father OaTazsi expressed with increased 

 freedom his own views of political administration as well as of church 

 government Afterwards, when the insurrectionists of Milan, in 

 March 1848, had driven the Austrian troops from the city, and Charles 

 Albert, king of Sardinia, had advanced into Lombardy to support the 

 Italian cause, Father Qavaui harangued the people in the Pantheon 

 and the Colosseum of Rome. An army of Roman volunteers waa 

 formed, and the pope, who thus far appeared to favonr the popular 

 cause, named Father Gavazzi chaplain-general of the forces. He 

 accompanied the army in their short and unsuccessful campaign, 

 stimulating the Italians to give their aid by personal services or con- 

 tributions, and at the same time attending assiduously to the sick and 

 wounded. Early in the month of August 1S49 Marshal Radetzky, the 

 Austrian general, retook Milan and defeated Charles Albert. The 

 pope now changed his policy, recalled the army, and adopted repressive 

 measures in Home. Oavazzi in the meantime endeavoured to rouse 

 the Italians in Florence and other places to resist ttie Austrians, but 

 with no effective result. He repressed an insurrection against the 

 papal government in Bologna, where he was afterwards arrested by 

 the pope's general Zucchi, and would have been cast into prison at 

 Corneto if, on passing through Viterbo, the inhabitants had not risen 

 and released him. After the flight of the pope from Rome to Gaeta 

 on the 26th of November, a provisional junta was formed, a republican 

 government soon afterwards proclaimed, and on the 8th of February 

 1819 the pope was declared to be deprived of all temporal power. 

 The pope immediately appealed to the Roman Catholic powers for 

 assistance. The French government sent an army under General 

 Oudinot, and on the 23rd of June 1849 the siege of the city of Rome 

 was commenced. The Romans, commanded by Garibaldi and stimu- 

 lated by Gavazzi, defended the city with great bravery, but on the 

 3rd of July they were compelled to surrender. Garibaldi made his 

 escape, and General Oudinot, in consideration of Gavazzi' s attention to 

 the sick and wounded during the siege, gave him a pass of safe-conduct, 

 which enabled him to get to England. In the spring of 1851 Father 

 Gavazzi delivered a series of ten lectures, in Italian, in the concert-room 

 of the Princess's theatre, London, on papal abuses, the inquisition, the 

 character of Pius IX., clerical celibacy, and similar subjects. He has 

 since lectured, in English, on similar topics in the chief towns of England, 

 Wale;, and Scotland, the United States of America, and in Canada. 



GAY, JOHN, a lively poet of the 18th century, born at or near 

 Barnstnple in Devonshire in 1688, began the world as apprentice to a 

 mercer in London. That employment however he soon forsook, and 

 having published his first piece, ' liural Sports,' in 1711, he dedicated 

 it to Mr. Pope, and thus established an acquaintance which ripened 

 into a firm and lasting friendship. In 1712 he became secretary to the 

 Duchess of Monmouth, whose service he quitted in 1714 to attend 

 the Earl of Clarendon, ambassador to Hanover, in a similar capacity. 

 This was his introduction to a court life. He sought and obtained the 

 favour of the Prince of Wales, but was neglected after that prince's 

 accession to the throne; and the disappointment of his ambition he 

 took so seriously to heart, that it appears to have had great effect in 

 shortening his life. This was a great weakness, for Gay ought to have 

 possessed in himself every requisite for comfort. His writings hod 

 been lucrative, and his wit, united with the simplicity and suavity of 

 bis temper, had secured to him a large circle of attached friends, both 

 of the noble and the witty ; but his spirits were easily -elated and 

 easily depressed, and an indolent improvident temper prevented him 

 from making the best of the advantages which he possessed. The 

 latter years of his life were spent in the household of the Duke of 

 Queensberry, where he was treated with great kindness and respect. 

 He died December 4, 1732, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, 

 where a monument, with an affectionate inscription by Pope, is erected 

 to him. 



Gay wrote several comedies and farces, of which we need only 

 mention a mock-heroic piece, the ' What d'ye call it,' which had a 

 great ran in 1715, and may still be read with amusement ; and the 

 celebrated ' Beggar's Opera,' which was brought on the stage in 

 November 1727, and was acted for sixty-three following nights during 

 that season, besides obtaining similar popularity in other places. The 

 rest of his dramas have been long forgotten. His ' Fables,' written 

 with liveliness and elegance, are still popular with the young. The 

 second part of them is of a political turn; and was written for the 

 use of the infant Duke of Cumberland in 1726. The ' Shepherd's 

 Week' is a scries of pastorals, written, it is said, in rivalry of Ambrose 

 Philips, and represents rural life in its true character of poverty and 

 rudeness, instead of in the false colours of romance. ' Trivia, or the 

 Art of Walking the Streets of London,' shows talent for observation, 

 and is a clever and spirited example of the mock-heroic. Of his 

 minor pieces, the favourite ballad of 'Black-Eyed Susan* is a good 

 specimen. 



GAYANGOS, PASCUAL DE, an eminent Spanish and Oriental 

 scholar, who has made many valuable contributions, both direct and 

 indirect, to English literature, was born in Spain about the end of the 

 18th century. He early devoted himself to the study of the Arabic 



language, without which he saw it was impossible to prosecute suc- 

 cessfully the study of the mediooval history of Spain. When on a 

 visit to Algiers he met with an Knglish lady whom he married, and 

 the most important of his published works are in the English language. 

 An article on the ' Arabic Manuscripts in Spain,' which appeared in 

 the ' Westminster Review ' for 1834, is, we believe, tho first of the 

 series, and it has been followed by numerous articles in the ' I'/liu- 

 bnrgh,' and other review*, in the ' Penny Cyclopaedia,' the ' Biographi- 

 cal Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,' 

 &c. For several years Senor de Gayangos was resident in England, 

 where his perfect knowledge of the language and literature of both 

 countries enabled him to discharge in some sort the duties of a liter iry 

 ambassador. While here he issued the ' History of the Mohammedan 

 Dynasties in Spain, by Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Al-Makkari,' translated 

 from the copies in the library of the British Museum, and illustrated 

 with critical notes on the history, geography, and antiquities of Spain 

 (London, 1840-43). The history itself is of great interest, but the 

 main value of the work consists in the ample critical notes which occupy 

 upwards of four hundred closely printed pages of the two quarto 

 volumes, and which throw an entirely new light on much of the early 

 history of Spain. Senor de Gayangos also translated the Arabic 

 inscriptions, and wrote the illustrative matter for the magnificent 

 work of Goury and Owen Jones on the Alhambra ' (London, 11^, 

 folio). Since his return to Spain, where he is Professor of Arabic at 

 the Athenaeum of Madrid, he has made repeated visits to the African 

 coast and to England. Of late years he has rendered valuable 

 assistance to the American historians Prescott and Ticknor, in the 

 collection of materials for their histories of Philip II., and of ,Spuni*h 

 literature. He has alao commenced, in conjunction witli Vedia, the 

 publication of a translation of Ticknor's work into Spanish, of which 

 the third volume has (1856) just appeared. It is enriched with copious 

 notes, containing supplementary information to that given in the 

 English original, and these notes have, we observe, been themselves 

 translated in the German edition of Juliii'. 



GAY-LUSSAC, NICOLAS-FRANCOIS, was born at St. Leonard, 

 in the department of Haute- Vienne, on December 6th, 177S. He was 

 educated at the Polytechnic School, where his assiduity and talents 

 gained him the friendship of Berthollet. On leaving the school he 

 entered into the scientific department of Les Fonts et Chauase'es. 

 The expansibility of the gases was at that time a subject exciting 

 much attention ; and Gay-Lussac gave the law of dilatation, and 

 showed its constant uniformity. His application to this subject led 

 M. Charles, a scientific physician, to recommend him the use of the 

 balloon, just previously invented, as an excellent means of testing 

 some of his theories, of making fresh experiments, and of at least 

 exciting public attention by his boldness and the novelty of the 

 attempt. In conjunction with M. Biot, he made the proposul to tho 

 government ; Laplace and Berthollet supported it ; and M. Cbaptal, 

 then minister of the interior, gave them the balloon which had been 

 constructed for the use of the war-department, having had it refitted 

 at the public expense. Furnished with chronometers, thermometers, 

 barometers, hygrometers, electrometers, compasses, and paper and 

 pencils, Messrs. Gay-Lussac and Biot ascended from the garden of tho 

 Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, on August 23, 1804. Their highest 

 elevation attained was 3977 metres (13,028 feet) above the Seine. 

 M. Biot was affected with giddiness ; but Gay-Lussac, by his expe- 

 riments, ascertained that the influence of terrestrial magnetiem on the 

 compass was nearly as great as on earth ; that the atmospheric elec- 

 tricity increased as they rose, and was alwajs negative ; that the 

 hygrometer showed increased dryness ; and the thermometer, which 

 marked 14 Reaumur (64 Fahrenheit) on earth, sank to 8J (51). 

 The bold adventurers at lost descended safely about 54 miles from 

 Paris. On September 5, in the same year, M. Gay-Lussac made a 

 second ascent alone, when he reached a height of 4J, miles ; at which 

 height he experienced a difficulty of breathing and an excessive cold, 

 the thermometer being 6 degrees below of Reaumur (20 Fahr.). 

 He calculated that the air lost 1 degree of beat for onch additional 

 height of 174 metres (571 feet). On this occasion he brought down, 

 in bottles carefully prepared for the purpose, some air from the 

 highest point reached, which on analysis was found to be composed 

 precisely the same as at the surface. After a voyage of six hours he 

 descended at a village about 21 miles from Rouen. 



M. Charles had been correct in supposing these experiments would 

 draw attention to his friend. It introduced him to honour, titles, and 

 illustrious friends. Of tho society of Arcueil, instituted by Laplace 

 and Berthollet in 1804, consisting at first of only nine members, Gay- 

 Lussac was one. Here he met Alexander von Humboldt, with whom 

 he joined in the investigation of the polarisation of light, several 

 memoirs on which were furnished to the society. In conjunction also 

 with Von Humboldt he endeavoured to determine the position of the 

 magnetic equator, and its intersection with the terrestrial equator. 

 Gay-Lussac's chief attention however was directed to the Voltaic pile, 

 and the decomposition of acids and alkalies. Napoleon I. had insti- 

 tuted a magnificent prize for the most important discovery made by 

 means of the pile, hoping that it would be gained by some one con- 

 nected with the ftcole Pol) technique, but Sir H. Davy, by his 

 discovery of the metallic basis of soda and potassium, was the suc- 

 cessful competitor in 1810. Bonaparte was dissatisfied; he inquired 



