187 



GOUGH, RICHARD. 



GOWER, JOHN. 



Mr. Cough's extraordinary power as a public speaker arises chiefly 

 perhaps from his possession of the combined qualifications of actor 

 and orator, as well as from the earnestness of feeling by which his 

 addresses are characterised. 



GOUGH, RICHARD, an eminent English antiquary, son of Henry 

 Cough, Esq., was born in Winchester-street, London, October 21, 

 1735. He became a fellow-commoner of Bene't College, Cambridge, 

 in July 1752, but left the University in 1756, without taking a degree. 

 He was elected F.S.A, in 1767, and in 1771, upon the death of Dr. 

 Gregory Sharpe, Master of the Temple, was chosen director of the 

 society, an office which he held till 1797. He was elected F.R.S. 

 in 1775. Hr. Cough's first publication of importance was his 'Anec- 

 dotes of British Topography,' 4to., Lond., 1768, reprinted and 

 enlarged in 2 vols. 4to., 1760. In 1773 he formed the design of a 

 new edition of Camden's 'Britannia,' which he had partly begun to 

 translate before, and for the purpose of making additions to which 

 he had for years made regular excursions through the different 

 counties of England, Wales, and Scotland. His edition of the 

 'Britannia' was at length published in 1789, in three volumes folio; 

 reprinted in four volumes folio, 1806. In 1786 he published the 

 first volume of the ' Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain, applied 

 to illustrate the History of Families, Manners, Habits, and Arts, 

 at the different Periods from the Norman Conquest to the Sixteenth 

 Century.' This splendid volume in folio, which contains the first four 

 centuries, was followed in 17% by a second, containing the fifteenth 

 century ; and in 1799 by an Introduction to the second volume, with 

 which he thought proper to conclude his labours, instead of continuing 

 them to the sixteenth century, as he first intended. 



Among his publications of a minor kind were ' An Account of the 

 Bedford Missal,' 'The History of Fleshy, in Essex,' 4to., 1803, and in 

 the game year, ' An Account of the Coins of the Seleucidae, Kings of 

 Syria,' 4to. 



He was also the improver and editor of Martin's ' History of 

 Thetford,' 4to., 1780; published a new edition of Vertue's ' Medals, 

 Coins, and Great Seals,' by Simon ; and in the same year contributed 

 a preface and glossary to Mr. Nichols's collection of 'Royal and Noble 

 Wills,' 4to. 



Mr. Gough drew up, at the united request of the president and 

 fellows, the ' History of the Society of Antiquaries of London,' pre- 

 fixed to the fint volume of their ' Arcbacologia,' in 1770; and to the 

 eleven succeeding volumes of that work, as well as to the ' Vetusta 

 Monumenta,' he contributed numerous valuable memoirs. He was 

 equally liberal to Mr. Nicholas ' Bibliutheca Topographies Britannica,' 

 and to his ' History of Leicestershire," 



Mr. Cough died February 20, 1809, and was buried in the church- 

 yard of Wormley, in Hertfordshire. By his last will he bequeathed to 

 the University of Oxford all his printed books and manuscript* on Saxon 

 and Northern literature; all fail manuscripts, printed books, prints, 

 maps, and drawings illustrative of or relating to British topography ; 

 hi* interleaved copies of his three greater works already mentioned, 

 and all bis unengraved drawings of sepulchral monuments; with 

 fourteen volumes of drawing* of sepulchral and other monuments in 

 France ; the engraved copper-plates of his greater works, &c. The 

 remainder of his library and collections were sold by auction in 1810 

 and 1812 ; the printed books producing 3,552<. 3. 



(Biog. Pref. to the Catalogue of Mr. Cough's Library; Nichols, 

 Literary Anecdote*). 



GOUJON, JEAN, a celebrated French sculptor, born in Goujon, 

 is sometimes called the C'orreggio of sculptors, from the softness and 

 delicate roundness of his execution, especially in basao-rilievo, in 

 which he wa* excellent; he is also sometimes termed the father of 

 French sculpture. Many of his works have perished, but two of the 

 best still remain : the bassi-rilievi of the Naiades of the Fontaine des 

 Innocents', and the four colossal Caryatides in the Louvre, in the 

 Salle dea Cariatides, so named from Goujon's works, built in the 

 reign of Henri II. Goujon was also an architect; he was architect to 

 the king, and was appointed, conjointly with Pierre Lescot, to super- 

 intend the building of the Louvre. He was employed also in other 

 works by Henri II. ; and he made for him a large naked statue of his 

 mistress, Diana of Poitiers (the Duchess of Valentinoie), which is 

 now in the Louvre, in the Salle d'Angouleme. The figure, which is 

 reclining and resting against a stag, baa been extravagantly praised ; 

 but it is neither well proportioned, nor does it possess any fine develop- 

 ment of form characteristic of the female : it is long, and wants 

 undulation of line ; but this peculiarity might be supposed to belong 

 to the individual, were not the nymphs of the Fontaine des Innocents 

 conspicuous for the same defects, which shows that they are defects of 

 manner. The accessory parts of his works are elaborately executed. 

 Goujon was a Huguenot, and fell a victim to the massacre of St. 

 Bartholomew, in 1572 ; be was shot while on a scaffolding, working 

 upon some ban-i rilievi at the Louvre. His remaining works have 

 been engraved and published in large octavo, by A. Reveil, ' (Euvres 

 de Jean Goujon, grave 1 au trait d'apres ses Statues,' Ac., Paris, 1829. 

 (D'Argenville, Via dafameux ArchUeclei el Scvlpteun, Ac. ; Dandre 

 Ban Ion ; Watelut ; Reveil et Dncbesne ; &C.) 



GOI'Ll), JOHN, a celebrated naturalist, was born on September 

 14, 1804, at Lyme in Dorsetshire. He early displayed a fondness for 

 objects of natural history, and particularly for birds, of which he began 



to prepare stuffed specimens for sale while yet a youth. He was at that 

 time residing at Eton, and was even then noticed for the assiduity and 

 intelligence with which he pursued his favourite study. On the verge 

 of the neighbouring forest, or in a boat in one of the many creeks of 

 the Thames, with his gun and a book, he might be seen patiently 

 watching for some desired specimen, which when secured was carefully 

 prepared and added to his collection. His skill in these preparations 

 was remarkable; the life-like attitude and natural positions of the 

 birds were admired by all who saw them ; but Mr. Gould wished to 

 attain something more than thia mechanical skilL He was desirous 

 of becoming a scientific naturalist. He possessed a few books on 

 zoology, among which was Bewick's 'British Birds,' a special favourite ; 

 these he studied carefully, and when at length his reputation pro- 

 cured him an engagement with the Zoological Society of London to 

 prepare specimens for the museum of that society, he had many 

 opportunities of increasing his knowledge, of which he zealously availed 

 himself. A fine collection of specimens of birds from India had reached 



married after settling in London) was the accomplished artist. It was 

 a most magnificent work, the figures beautifully and accurately 

 coloured, in imperial folio, and the price was fourteen guineas. The 

 work was, as it deserved to be, highly successful, and placed Mr. Gould 

 at onca amongst the best naturalists of bis age. 



This success encouraged him to proceed. In 1832 he commenced 

 the publication in parts of his ' Birds of Europe,' and it was completed 

 in 1837. The price of the twenty-two parts was 161. 8*.; but though 

 so costly, not a copy was ultimately left unsold. All the drawings 

 for these were made upon {he stone by his wife. He next published 

 a ' Monograph of the Ramphastidae ;' then a ' Monograph of the 

 Trogonidse.' In the spring of 1838 Mr. Gould and his wife proceeded 

 to Australia to prepare materials for his next great undertaking, the 

 'Birds of Australia,' He was absent for two years, during which 

 period "an immense mass of drawings, both ornithological and 

 botanical, were made by the inimitable hand and pencil" of Mrs. 

 Gould, says her sorrowing husband in his preface, for she died within 

 a twelvemonth of their return from Australia. In 1848 the work was 

 completed, forming seven folio volumes, in which he has figured and 

 described 600 species (twice as many as had been before known) from 

 actual observation in their native haunts. He subsequently issued a 

 'Monograph of the Trochilidao, or Humming-Birds,' of which he had 

 formed an unrivalled collection. This collection had been long a 

 favourite object, and had been pursued with ardour and perseverance. 

 Specimens were purchased singly or in small numbers at low or high 

 prices, they were transmitted from abroad in letters or in packing- 

 cages, till they amounted to 2000 specimens, illustrating 320 species, 

 a large increase on what had been previously described. In 1851 these 

 specimens were exhibited in the gardens of the Zoological Society in 

 the Regent's Park, and they were afterwards removed to the Crystal 

 Palace at Sydenham. In addition to the works already named, Mr. 

 Gould has published ' Icoues Avium,' a 'Monograph of the Macro- 

 podidae,' and a ' Monograph of the Odontophoriu;e.' 



GOWER, JOHN, an early English writer, was bom in the first half 

 of the 14th century. Whether he was older or younger than Chaucer 

 is doubtful ; certain it is that they were friends, probably from their 

 college days. The profession which Gower followed is as uncertain 

 as his birth-year. It appears that he studied law, but the story of his 

 having been some time chief-justice of the Common Pleas wants proof. 

 He was attached to the Duke of Gloucester, Richard II. "s uncle, and 

 appeal's, like Chaucer, to have taken part in censuring the vices and 

 follies of the ecclesiastics of those times. In the latter part of Gower's 

 life it seems nearly certain that a coolness existed between him and 

 Chaucer, and Tyrrwhit thinks he has discovered some trace of it in 

 certain expressions of Chaucer, and in the fact that in the second 

 edition of his poems Gower omitted some verses in praise of his friend. 

 As however this second edition did not appear till after the accession 

 of Henry IV., it is probable that Chaucer, who only survived that 

 event about a year, never felt the blow thus aimed against him. 



Gower's works are 1. ' Speculum Meditantis,' a collection in French 

 verse of precepts and examples of chastity. 2. ' Vox Clamantis,' a 

 Latin poem, in seven books, on the insurrection of the Commons under 

 Richard II. 3. 'Confessio Amantis,' which is written for the most 

 part in English octave verse, with interspersed Latin elegiacs and 

 Latin prose tables of contents, something like the well-known running 

 commentary to the ' Ancient Mariner.' It consists of eight books and 

 a prologue, and in some parts takes the form of a conversation between 

 the lover and his priest, where story and disquisition are heaped on each 

 other in the most unsparing profusion, with the intention apparently 

 of solacing the lover. 



The ' Confessio Amantis ' was written towards the end of Gower's 

 life, and appears by its form to have indicated n wish on his part to 

 conform to that taste for English poetry which Chaucer had awakened 

 among his countrymen. As a poet he ranks very far below his friend. 

 His verses are tedious, overladen with misplaced learning not even 

 poetically introduced ; and it seems pretty evident that had Chaucer 

 never lived, Gower would have continued to the end of hh days a 

 composer of Norman couplets and Latin elegiacs. 



