OOSSK, PHILIP HENRY. 



GOTHE, JOIIANN WOLKGANQ VON. 



Ul 



translator gives in his note* a parallel between the Poliih and English 

 constitution*. Ootlicki entered the church, became bishop of Posnania, 

 and was frequently employed in many political affairs. 



OOSSK, PHILIP HENRY, F.K.&, was born at Worcester in 1810. 

 He early evinced a great love for natural history, but was at the outset 

 of life engaged in commercial occupations. He went to Newfoundland 

 in 1827, remained there eight years, then stayed three years in Canada, 

 and afterwards travelled in the United States. During his stay in 

 these countries he devoted great attention to natural history, and soon 

 after his return to this country published the ' Canadian Naturalist' 

 This work, the result of his observations in the districts to which it 

 relates, contains many charming descriptions of natural scenery and 

 objects. He afterwards visited Jamaica, and on his return wrote and 

 published a little volume on 'The Birds of Jamaica.' This was 

 followed by a larger work, published iu 1849, and entitled ' Illus- 

 trations of the Birds of Jamaica.' He also enriched the pages of the 

 Annals and Magazine of Natural History by an account, in a series 

 of articles, of the insects of Jamaica. In the year 1849 he pub- 

 lished a general work, entitled an ' Introduction to Zoology." In 1850 

 he was employed by Mr. Lovell Reeve to write a volume in his series 

 of natural history works, which was published with the title ' Popular 

 British Ornithology.' In 1851 he published a further account of his 

 experience in the pursuit of natural history in Jamaica, and gave a 

 very interesting account of his residence there : the work was entitled 

 ' A Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica.' Besides these, he had been 

 engaged in writing several volumes on natural history for the Society 

 for Promoting Christian ^Knowledge. Mr. Gosae, having repaired to 

 the Devonshire coast for the benefit of his health, soon collected enough 

 information, with regard to marine animals, to publish, in 1853, 

 another work, entitled ' Rambles of a Naturalist on the Devonshire 

 Coast,' illustrated with 28 plates from Mr. Gosse's own drawings. In 

 this work the author gave his experience of keeping creatures in 

 Teasels filled with sea-water. This arrangement, which has since been 

 more correctly called an Aquavivarium, be named an Aquarium. In 

 1854 he published a work on this subject, with the title, ' The 

 Aquarium, or Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea.' It was 

 illustrated with a number of coloured plates, and served greatly to 

 encourage a taste for the cultivation of plants and animals in vessels 

 filled with sea-water. Mr. Goose has lately published the first part of 

 a work entitled ' A Manual of Marine Zoology for the British Isles.' 



Whilst Mr. Gosse has been thus usefully employed in writing works 

 which have diffused widely a taste for the study of natural objects, he 

 has not neglected original observations, and has obtained for himself 

 a high position as a scientific and accurate observer. Amongst his 

 contributions to science which deserve this character are his papers 

 on Insects, in the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' and his 

 papers on the structure and functions of the Rotifera, in the ' Trans- 

 actions of the Microscopical Society,' and the ' Philosophical Transac- 

 tion'.' In consequence of these latter papers Mr. Gosse was elected a 

 Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1S50. 



GOSSELIN, P. F. J., a distinguished geographer, born in 1751, at 

 Lisle. From 1772 to 1780, he travelled iu different parts of Europe 

 engaged in geographical and antiquarian researches. At the beginning 

 of the revolution he was returned by his province as a deputy to the 

 national assembly, and in 1791 was nominated by the king a member of 

 the central administration of commerce. The Committee of Public 

 Safety employed Gosselin in the department of war. In 1799 he 

 received a place in the cabinet of medals at Paris, which he retained 

 till his death in 1830. His principal works are ' Geographic des Grecs 

 analysee,' Paris, 1790, in quarto, with ten maps, and 'Recherches sur 

 la Gdographie systematique et positive des Anciens,' 4 vola., Paris, 

 1798 to 1813, in 4 to, with 54 maps. The researches contained in 

 these works throw great light on the geographical knowledge of the 

 ancients. Gosselin also assisted in the translation of Strabo, which 

 was undertaken by the order of the French government, and published 

 at Paris, 1805 to 1819, in 5 vols. 



GOSSON, STEPHEN, a native of Kent, was born in 1554. In 

 1572 he was entered at Christchurch, Oxford, where he took his 

 Bachelor's degree, and then removed to London. He was there a 

 family tutor, and wrote three plays a tragedy called ' Catiline's Con- 

 spiracies,' a comedy called ' Captain Mario,' and ' Praise at Parting,' a 

 moral play. These plays were never printed, and would now be quite 

 unknown but for the remorseful mention which the author himself 

 afterwards made of them. He was but twenty-five years old when he 

 published one of the most curious, and the second in order of time, 

 of the Puritanical tracts inveighing against plays and stage-playing. 

 This was ' The Schoole of Abuse, conteiuiug a plesaunt invective 

 against Poets, Pipers, Plaicrs, Testers, and such like Caterpillers of a 

 Commonwealth,' 1579-87. This pamphlet, more scurrilous than either 

 pleasant or logical, was reprinted by the Shakspere Society in 1841. 

 It was followed in the same year by Gosson's miscellaneous volume, 

 called ' The Ephem. rides of Phialo ' (reprinted in 1586), one part of 

 which, ' A Short Apologie of the Schoole of Abuse against Poets, 

 Pipers, Player*, and their Excusers,' was directed against Thomas 

 Lodge's ' Reply to Stephen Gosson touching Play*.' Both of these 

 works of Gosson were dedicated to Sir Philip Sidney, who, according 

 to Spenser, scorned the writer for his labour. He took up the argu- 

 ment again, with violent personal abuse of Lodge, in his ' Plays confuted 



n Five Action',' published in 1581 or 1582, and dedicated to Sir Francis 

 iVaUinghain. Another work of Gosson is the ' Pleasant Quippes for 

 Jpstart Newfangled Gentlewomen,' printed in 1595, and again in 

 1596; a versified composition containing some hard satirical hits, but 

 no poetry. His only other known effusions are verses prefixed to throe 

 works of his day, and a sermon called ' The Trumpet of War,' which 

 was printed in 1598. Gosson had then taken orders, and was parson 

 of Great Wigborough in Essex. In 1600 he was instituted to the 

 rectory of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate ; and it is a curious fact that 

 there exists a letter of his dated in 1616, in which, with expressions 

 of respect, he recommends to Edward Alleyn the player three poor 

 [>eople for admission to Dulwich Hospital Gosson held the rectory 

 of St. Botolph at his death, which took place in his parish on the 

 13th of February 1623. 



GOTHK, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON, was born at Frankfurt-on- 

 the-Maine on the 28th of August 1749. The history, or rather the 

 poetical account, which he has given of his own life in the book 

 entitled ' Dichtung und Wahrheit : aus meinem Loben,' enables the 

 reader to trace from early childhood the mental development of this 

 extraordinary man. The taste of his father (who wai a man in 

 comfortable circumstances) for literature and works of art, and the 

 sensation created by the breaking out of the Seven Yean* War, had 

 a great influence on his mind, and had the effect of forming him to 

 habits of reflection. In early years he seems to have had anxious 

 thoughts about religion, and before he had attained the age of eight 

 he devised a form of worship to the 'God of Nature,' and actually 

 burned sacrifices. Music, drawing, natural science, the study of 

 languages, all had charms for him ; and to further his proficiency in 

 language, he wrote a romance, wherein seven sisters corresponded 

 each iu a different tongue. He soon turned his attention t'.> poetry, 

 and composed songs for the amusement of some young persons with 

 whom he had become accidentally acquainted. These young persons 

 however turned out to be bad characters, and his connection with 

 them was broken off. The intimacy led to his feeling for the first 

 time the passion of love. Gretchen (Peguy), who gave a name to the 

 heroine of ' Faust,' was the object of his early passion ; she was related 

 to one of his young friends, and seems to have been a sensible well- 

 inclined girl, who would have warned him from her own circle of 

 acquaintance. After the connection was broken off, he never saw her 

 again : a severe fit of illness was the consequence of this separation. 

 Shortly after his recovery he was sent to the University of Leipzig, 

 where Gottsched, who favoured the French school, Ernesti, and Gellert, 

 were leading men. Here his decided poetical turn first became mani- 

 fest; and though his father designed him to study jurisprudence, 

 instead of devoting himself to this pursuit, he looked around him, in 

 order to learn or discover some satisfactory theory of poetry. But it 

 was the infancy of German literature: he could find no certain 

 criterion of taste, and this prompted him to look within himself. 

 " Here began," says he, "that tendency, from which I did not depart 

 all my life, to turn everything which pleased or pained me into a 

 song." A little piece called ' Die Laune des Verliebten ' (' The Lover's 

 Whimsicality ') appeared at this time, as well as a comedy called 

 'Die Mitschuldiger ' ('The Accomplices '), which was designed to 

 exhibit the immorality of private life concealed under a smooth out- 

 side. He also paid attention to the history of the fine arts : Wiuckel- 

 mann was his favourite author. He eveu made some attempts at 

 etching ; but the exhalations of the acid impaired his health, and he 

 had hardly recovered in 1768, the year in which he left Leipzig. To 

 restore him to strength, he was sent to the residence of a lady named 

 Klettenberg, the 'fair saint,' whose confessions are recorded in 

 ' Wilhelm Meister.' She was a mystic : her society led Gbthe to study 

 the alchemical and cabalistic authors ; and he even hail thoughts of 

 founding a new religion, to be based on the Alexandrian philosophy. 

 These strange pursuits made him turn his attention to natural science, 

 and when he went to Strasbourg to finish his legal studies he neglected 

 jurisprudence for chemistry and anatomy. Here he became acquainted 

 with Herder, who advised him to peruse the Italian poets. On hU 

 return home he published the play of ' Gotz von Berlichingen ' (1773) 

 and the novel of ' Werther' (1774), which excited a sensation over all 

 Germany. The Prince of Weimar made his acquaintance, and on 

 assuming the government invited him to his court. He went to 

 Weimar in 1775, and in 1779 was made a privy-councillor (gcheiinrath), 

 and in the same year accompanied his prince to Switzerland. In 178B 

 he travelled into Italy, where he remained two years. Subsequently 

 he became one of the ministry, received honourable marks of distinc- 

 tion from different sovereigns, and closed a long life, devoted entirely 

 to science, literature, and art, in 1832. 



As this brief sketch of Gotbe's life has not given a view of the 

 order of bis works, we shall here notice them nearly in their chrono- 

 logical arrangement. 



' Werther,' which was one of hi.s earliest productions, was occa- 

 sioned by the suicide of a young gentleman named Jerusalem. It is 

 written with immense power and energy, of which the flat English 

 translation affords a very inadequate idea. 



' Gbtz von Berlichingen ' is less a drama than a series of dramatic 

 scenes, which give an almost pictorial view of the times of the Emperor 

 Maximilian. The character of Martin Luther, yet a rnouk, tlie 

 Bauerkriog (war of the peasants), the Fehmgericht, or secret tribunal, 



