GOPHER WOOD 



3605 



GORDON 



upon seeds and roots, and occasion- 

 ally upon birds and mammals. 



Gopher Wood. Material of 

 which, according to the Bible nar- 

 rative, the ark built by Noah was 

 constructed (Gen. vi, 14). The 

 weight of authority favours its 

 identification with the cypress 

 (q.v. ). The translators of the Bible 

 leave the word in Hebrew. 



Goppingen. Town of Germany, 

 in Wurttemberg. Situated on the 

 right bank of the Fils, it is 26 m. 

 N.W. of Ulm. The town was 

 largely rebuilt after a disastrous 

 fire in 1782, and has woollen and 

 metal manufactures and mineral 

 springs. The principal building is 

 the old castle erected by Duke 

 Christopher in the 16th century, 

 and possessing a fine spiral stone 

 staircase known as the Trauben- 

 stieg (vine-stairway). Pop. 22,373. 



Gopsall Hall. Residence in 

 Leicestershire, long the seat of 

 Earl Howe. It is 4 m. from Market 

 Bosworth. It was built in the 18th 

 century, and passed from Earl 

 Howe, the admiral, to the Curzons, 

 descendants of his daughter. It is 



Gopsall Hall, the Leicestershire mansion, until 1918 

 the seat of Earl Howe 



Scho field, Atherslone 



noted for its Corinthian front, 

 180 ft. long with a portico, and 

 until 1919 had a wonderful library, 

 with many rare volumes, including 

 some Shakespeares. The chapel is 

 adorned with cedar wood from 

 Lebanon. Handel resided here for 

 some years. In 1918 the hall and 

 estate were sold by Earl Howe. 



Gorakhpur. City and district 

 of the United Provinces, India, in 

 Gorakhpur division. Area, 4,587 



Goral. Ruminant mammal 

 placed by zoologists between the 

 goats and the antelopes. Found 

 only in the Himalayas, it some- 

 what resembles a goat with very 

 short horns and no beard. It 

 stands about 27 ins. high at the 

 shoulder, and is brown in colour 

 with black stripes down the back 

 and on the front of the legs. It is 

 usually found in small herds. 



Gorbals. Suburb of Glasgow, 

 at one time a separate municipality. 

 It is on the S. side of the Clyde, 

 and is served by the Glasgow and 

 S.W. Rly. Tramways also connect 

 it with the centre of the city. The 

 chief buildings are its parish church 

 in Carl ton Place, once a residential 

 district, theatres, and the public 

 library. The centre of the district, 

 now one of the poorest and most 

 crowded parts of Glasgow, is 

 known as Gorbals Cross. Gorbals 

 was a separate burgh until incor- 

 porated with Glasgow in 1846. 

 See Glasgow. 



Gorboduc. Tragedy by Thomas 

 Sackville (afterwards earl of Dor- 

 set) and Thomas Norton. It was 



first acted by the 



1 gentlemen of the 

 ; Inner Temple be- 

 ] fore Queen Eliza- 

 | beth, Jan. 18, 

 I 1562. It is the 

 - |HJR earliest example of 

 English tragedy. 

 ; Gorboduc, king of 

 ^m mKSs 'nni: Britain, divides 

 the kingdom be- 

 tween his sons, 

 whose quarrels 

 lead to a gen- 

 eral killing off of 

 the characters. 

 Printed in 1570 

 as F e r r e x and 

 Porrex, there is 

 a modern edition 

 L. Toulmin Smith, 1883. 



by 



Gordian (Lat. Gordiamis). 

 Name of three Roman emperors, 

 father, son, and grandson. An- 

 tonius Gordianus Africanus, a 

 kinsman of the emperor Marcus 

 Aurelius, after holding the offices 

 of aedile, praetor, and consul, in 

 A.D. 232 became proconsul of 

 Africa. Having gained the affec- 

 tion of the inhabitants, he was in- 

 vited to assume the throne bv 



sq. m. Of the total area about body of rebels who had revolted 



three-quarters is under cultivation ; 

 of the cultivated area almost 

 half is devoted to rice. Exports 

 mainly consist of agricultural pro- 

 duce; the chief imports are piece- 

 goods, salt, and metals. Area, 

 division, 9,543 sq. m. ; district, 

 4,528 sq. m. Pop., division, 

 6,524,419, f Hindus; district, 

 3,201,180, fo Hindus; city, 48,358, 

 | Hindus, Mahomedans. 



against Maximinus (q.v.). This he 

 did with great reluctance in 238, 

 being then nearly 80 years of age. 

 Duly recognized by the senate, he 

 associated his son with him as 

 joint-emperor. The governor of 

 Mauretania, refused to recognize 

 him as emperor, and in an engage- 

 ment near Carthage the younger 

 Gordian lost his life, whereupon 

 the father committed suicide. 



Goral. 



A Himalayan ruminant 

 resembling a goat 



After the brief joint reign of 

 Balbinus (q.v. ) and Pupienus (q.v. ), 

 which ended in the murder of 

 both, the son of the younger Gor- 

 dian, a boy of 12, was proclaimed 

 emperor by the soldiery as Gordian 

 III (238). He proved to be a capable 

 general, but a succession of vic- 

 tories was cut short by his death. 

 His successor in command, Marcus 

 Julius Philippus, incited the sol- 

 diery against Gordian, and in a 

 mutiny Gordian was murdered 

 (244), Philippus being proclaimed 

 emperor in his stead. 



Gordian Knot. In Greek le- 

 gend, a knot of bark made by 

 Gordius, a Phrygian king, in fas- 

 tening the pole to the yoke of a 

 sacred wagon in the Acropolis of 

 Gordium. An oracle declared that 

 whoever should loose the knot 

 would be ruler of Asia. Alexander 

 the Great fulfilled the oracle by 

 cutting the knot with his sword. 

 " Cutting the Gordian knot " has 

 become proverbial for prompt 

 dealing with a baffling problem. 



Gordium . Ancient city of Phry - 

 gia. It stands on the road between 

 Pessinus and Ancyra near the San- 

 garius river. It was named after 

 Gordius, a Phrygian peasant, who, 

 according to tradition, became king 

 of Phrygia. See Gordian Knot. 



Gordon. Name of two war 

 cemeteries in France where British 

 soldiers who fell in the Great War 

 are buried. One is N.N.E. of 

 Kemmel, and the other is S. of 

 Mametz. Four others bear the 

 names of Gordon Castle, S.W. of 

 Thiepval; Gordon Dump, E. of 

 La Boisselle ; Gordon Farm, and 

 Gordon House, between the Menin 

 Road and Zillebeke Lake. See 

 War Graves. 



Gordon. Name of a Scottish 

 family. Strictly speaking, its head 

 is the marquess of Huntly, another 

 branch being represented by the 

 marquess of Aberdeen, while the 

 duke of Richmond is a Gordon in 

 the female line. Aberdeenshire is 

 their special area, but there are 

 many others throughout Scotland, 



