IN 



GOLIUS, JAMES. 



OONC30UA. 



1W 



Ledger,' Ac. In 1702 he began the 'Vicar of Wakefield,' for which 

 Dr. Johnson, while Gold smith WM under arrest, succeeded in getting 

 for him t one* 60i, but which wu not publishrd until 1766. 'The 

 Traveller ' appeared at the end of 1764, and in the same yoar his 

 ballad of the ' Hermit' In the meanwhile he had published hU 

 ' Life of Heaa Naih,' ' Letter* from a Nobleman to his Son,' and other 

 hasty worka and several compilation!, and done much other book- 

 aellen' work, for the purpoee of immediate profit 



Hie comedy of the ' Good- Natured Han' was brought outatCovent- 

 Oarden la the beginning of 1768. It had been previously declined 

 by Oarrick, and did not meet with any very decided access, though 

 Dr. Johnson pronounced it to be the best comedy which had appeared 

 since ' The Provoked Husband.' In 1770 ho published bU ' Deserted 

 Village ; ' and in the same year entered into engagements for writing 

 his histories of Home, Greece, and England. On the establishment of 

 the Royal Academy of Painting, in 1770, Goldsmith was appointed pro- 

 fessor of ancient history in the institution. In 1773 he appeared a 

 second time aa a dramatic author, and now with very great success. 

 Dr. Johnson said of 'She Stoops to Conquer' that "he knew of no 

 comedy fur many years that has so much exhilarated an audience, that 

 has answered so much the great end of comedy ranking an audience 

 merry." Its success was unequivocal, and it ran without intermission 

 to the end of the season, and waa resumed nt the opening of the follow- 

 ing one. One of his lost publications was a ' History of the Earth and 

 Animated Nature,' which appeared in 1774, and in which he hai been 

 engaged for two or three yi-ars. For this work he received the large 

 turn of 8502. ; but Goldsmith's money was ever given or gambled away 

 aa soon as it was received, and very shortly he was in as great embar- 

 rassment aa before. In tho spring of 1774 he was taken ill with a 

 fever, which, aggravated by mental distress consequent on poverty, 

 and also by a wrong treatment, which his physician could not dissuade 

 him from pursuing, terminated fatally on the 4th of .April. He died 

 at the age of forty-five. He was interred in the burial ground of the 

 Temple church, but no memorial was set up there to indicate the place 

 of his burial, and it is now found to be impossible to identify tho spot 

 in which his remains were laid. His friends erected a monument to 

 his memory in Westminster Abbey, for which a Latin inscription was 

 written by Dr. Johnson ; and in 1 837 a marble slab, with an English 

 inscription, was placed by the members of tho Inner Temple, in the 

 Temple church, to commemorate the fact of Goldsmith having died 

 in the Temple and been buried within the Temple churchyard : this 

 slab now stands in the vestry. 



The preceding brief sketch of Goldsmith's life speaks plainly enough 

 as to his character. He was weakness itself. Not without amiable 

 dispositions, for indeed few men have possessed more benevolence 

 or stronger family affections, he wanted the strength of purpose 

 which can alone regulate them for good. At no period of his life did 

 he resolutely pursue an object. Idle at the university, unwilling to 

 settle down to any profession, and when he had made his choice, lazy 

 and apathetic in its pursuit, he at last became an author, merely 

 because authorship was necessary for subsistence, and wrote only as 

 often and as much as the pressure of his wants required. He was ever 

 ready to yield to the impulse of the moment, and a piteous tale would 

 so work upon his feelings, that for the relief of nn applicant he often 

 not only gave his all, but even involved himself in debt. His weak- 

 nets also assumed, in a remarkable degree, the form of vanity, with 

 instances of which failing the reader of Boswell's ' Life of Johnson ' 

 will be acquainted. 



Of Goldsmith the author but little need be said. The humour of 

 the ' Vicar of Wakefield,' the pathos of the ' Traveller,' and the 

 'Deserted Village,' and the wit of some of his smaller poems, are 

 known and appreciated by all. His numerous compilations, which 

 were only written for money, are not proper objects of criticism. His 

 histories of Greece and Rome certainly possess no critical value of any 

 kind ; and yet they have long been read with pleasure by a large 

 class who feel the charm of the writer's essy and lucid style, without 

 caring or troubling themselves about the accuracy of his statements. 



A life of Goldsmith was published not long after his death by Bishop 

 Percy; and a memoir of him is to be found in Sir Walter Scott's 

 'Miscellaneous Prose Works.' More recently throe other lives of 

 Goldsmith have appeared by Prior, Forster, and Washington Irving : 

 the largest is that by Mr. Prior; the best is that by Mr. Forster. 



GO'LIUS, JAMES, was born at the Hague, in 1596. He was 

 educated at the university of Leyden, where he studied tho ancient 

 language*, mathematics, theology, and medicine, and made such great 

 progress in his studies that h was appointed professor of Greek at 

 Hoi-hell* soon after he had attained bis twenty-first year. He resigned 

 this office after holding it a very short time, and returned, to Leyden, 

 where he devoted himself particularly to the study of Arabic under 

 Erpcniue. When the United Provinces sent an embassy to the king 

 of Morocco, in 1622, Golius accompanied it by the advice of Erpenius, 

 in order to obtain a more accurate knowledge of the Arabic language. 

 He had already made sufficient proficiency in Arabic to present to the 

 king of Marocco a memorial written in that language. In 102-1 Golius 

 was appointed professor of Arabic on the death of Erpeuius, who had 

 recommended him as the only person worthy to fill tho chair. In the 

 following year he sailed to the Levant, travelled in Arabia and Meso- 

 potamia, and returned home by way of Constantinople in 1629. 



During his absence he was appointed professor of mathematics. He 

 resided at Leyden for the remainder of hii life, and died on the 23th 

 of September, 1667. The work which has given most celebrity to the 

 name of Golius is his ' Lexicon Arabioo-Latiuum,' published at 

 Leyden, 1653, in folio. It was principally formed on the basis of the 

 Arabic Lexicon of Jaubari, entitled ' Al Sihah,' that is, ' the purity,' and 

 has been deservedly considered as a most extraordinary work for tho 

 time in which he lived. Many Arabic scholars prefer it to the new 

 Lexicon by Professor FreyUg of Bonn. Among the other principal 

 works of Golius we may name ' Proverbia quajdain A1U luipcraturis 

 et Carmen Tograi,' Leyden, 1629, 8vo ; ' Ahmedis Arabsiadie Vita) et 

 Iterum gestarum Titnuri,' Leyden, 4to, 1626; and a reprint of tha 

 Arabic grammar of Krnauius, Leyden, 1660, with the addition of 

 several Arabic works. He also compiled a Persian Lexicon, la his 

 ' Lexicon Heptaglotton.' Further particulars concerning the works 

 of Golius are given by Schnurrer in his ' Bibliotheca Arabico,' and by 

 Silvestre da Sacy in the ' Biographic Universelle,' art. Golius. 



QOLTZIU8, HENRY, a celebrated engraver and painter, was born 

 at Mulbrecht, in the duchy of Juliers, in 1558. He was first instructed 

 by his father, who painted on glass, and afterwards stmlied drriuu 

 under Jacques Laonhard; but it was his own genius and application 

 that raised him to the rank which he held among thu best ur I 

 his time. He began as an engraver; and some of his earliest prints 

 bear the date of 1578. One of them is a portrait of his father John Ucilt- 

 zius. Uartsch says he did not begin to paint till he was 4ti years of age. 



He first settled at Haarlem, where he married, and when) he re- 

 sided for a considerable time. He then travelled through several 

 parts of Italy, and studied a long while at Home, where he assumed 

 the name of Henry Bracht to avoid interruption, till be thought him- 

 self capable of appearing to advantage as a painter. He was inde- 

 fatigable in his attention to nature as well as the antique ; and he 

 made many designs after Haffoelle and Michel Angelo. Late as he 

 began it was incredible what a number of pictures he finished. Two 

 of his best were his ' Danae ' and a picture of tha ' Crucifixion.' 

 History and portraits were bis favourite subjects in both arts. 



Goltzius's finest engraviug, ' the Boy aud Dog,' bears the date of 

 1597. His two prints of the ' Hercules in the palace of the Belvedere' 

 were published immediately after his death, which happened January 

 1, 1617. Goltzius was the founder of a school which had a fine and 

 singular command of the graver. His immediate aud most successful 

 pupils were Mathan, Saeuredam, and Mutler. 



GOMAR, FRANCIS, was born at Bruges, on the 30th of January 

 1563. After spending some time at the universities of Strasbourg and 

 Heidelberg, he came to England in 1582, and continued his studios at 

 Oxford and Cambridge, at the latter of which he took the dcgreo of 

 Bachelor of Divinity in 1584. In 1587 he was chosen pastor of the 

 Flemish church at Frankfurt, and ill 1594 professor of divinity at 

 Leyden. He is principally known as the opponent of Anninius, who 

 was appointed as his colleague at Ley den in Iti03. On the death of 

 Arminius in 1609, and the appointment of Vorstius, who held similar 

 theological doctrines, as his successor, Gomar retired to Middelburg, 

 where he remained till 1614, when he was elected professor of divinity 

 at S.iumur. Four years afterwards he settled at Grouingen aa pro- 

 fessor of Hebrew and divinity, at which place he remained till his 

 death in 1641. He was present at the synod of Dcrt in 1018. His 

 works were printed at Amsterdam in 1645. As ha took the 1. .-i-l in 

 opposition to Arminius, those persona who agreed with him in con- 

 demning the opinions of Armiuius were called Uomaruts, and also 

 Anti-Remonstrants. They obtained the latter name from their opposi- 

 tion to the remonstrance which Armiuius presented to the Status- 

 General in 1608. An account of the theological warfare between 

 Gomar aud Arminius is given under AHMINIUS. 



GONDI. [RETZ, CAKDINAL DE.] 



GO'NGORA (LUIS GUNGORA Y ARGOTE), was born at Cordova 

 in 1561. He was sent at the age of fifteen to Salamanca, to study tho 

 law, which the love of poetry soon induced him to abandon. He wrote 

 during his stay at that university tho greater part of his jocose, 

 amatory, and satirical pieces, which in language and versification are 

 the beat of his compositions. He had frequently to struggle with 

 poverty, which evidently embittered his sarcastic muse. At last, in 

 his forty-fifth year, he took holy orders, and obtained a scanty p: 

 in the cathedral of Cordova. He tried however to improve his pros- 

 pects by going to Madrid, where, after eleven yean of wearisome ex- 

 pectation, he was made one of the chaplains of Philip ill., in WIIOHI 

 court he found his talents fully appreciated. A sudden illness subse- 

 quently deprived him of his memory, and ha returned to his native 

 city, where he died on the 24th of May, ltj'27. 



The disciples of the classic Spanish school were already tainted 

 with the extravagant notions of the Italian Marini.Hs, when Gongora 

 unfortunately came with his vigorous mind, and as it were at tue 

 critical hour, to bring them into full fashion. He tortured the Spanish 

 language without mercy, called his new phraseology eitito cullo, aud 

 answered with intemperate abuse the judicious censure of his eminent 

 contemporaries, the two brothers Argensolas, Lope de Vega, and 

 Quevcdo. On the other hand, the declining state and consequent 

 wavering taste of his countrymen gave him what he desired, a crowd 

 of admirers and imitators, who, with less talent, carriei to excess tho 

 empty pomp and verbose obscurity of the artificial language and 



