GREAT PLAGUE 



is the lower one ; where there are 

 more than two, it is usually the 

 second from the bottom. See 

 Ortran. A 



Great Plague. Terrible epi- 

 demic of bubonic plague which 

 ravaged London and other parts of 

 England in 1665. In 1 603 there was 

 an epidemic of plague in which 

 33,347 persons died in London, 

 and in 1625 there was another in 

 which 41,313 perished. 



For the 15 years preceding 1665 

 London had been remarkably free 

 from plague. It has been said that 

 the infection was brought from 

 Holland, but this is not certain, as 

 there were always a few cases in 

 London. In June the number of 

 j deaths became alarming, and there 

 was a steady increase in the mor- 

 tality until the end of Sept. Dur- 

 ing the winter months the epidemic 

 abated. The total number of 

 deaths in London in 1665 was 

 68,596. At the height of the 

 epidemic the scenes in London 

 were appalling. The doors of the 

 houses in which the sick lay were 

 marked with a red cross and the 

 words " Lord, have^ mercy upon 

 us," and no person was allowed to 

 enter or leave these houses. 



At first the dead were buried 

 separately and in coffins, but when 

 the mortality was at its worst the 

 bodies were simply thrown into 

 great pits. Besides shutting up 

 the houses, fires were burnt in the 

 streets, as these were believed to 

 have a preventive effect. The ex- 

 ceptional virulence of the epidemic 

 was confined to London and the 

 towns in its immediate vicinity. 



The plague lingered on in Lon- 

 don through 1666, and its eventual 

 disappearance was probably helped 

 by the Great Fire of that year, 

 which swept away a large area of 

 overcrowded, narrow, and insani- 

 tary streets. Defoe, in his Journal 

 of the Plague Year, published in 

 1722, gives what purports to be an 

 account of the plague by a contem- 

 porary. See Black Death ; Plague. 



Great Popo. Port in the French 

 colony of Dahome. It is situated 

 in the extreme W. of the country 

 25m. W. of Whydah. Pop. 2,115.' 



Great Powers. Term applied, 

 especially during the 19th century, 

 to the dominating countries of 

 Europe. Their agreement virtually 

 decided the peace of the world. 

 The Congress of Vienna, in 1815, 

 established or confirmed the right 

 of France, Great Britain, Austria, 

 and Russia to be Great Powers, and 

 after its unification Italy was added. 

 Towards the end of the 19th cen- 

 tury, the influence of Germany, the 

 U.S.A., and Japan in woild politics 

 brought them into the list of Great 

 Powers. The Great War destroyed 



3663 



Russia, and re- | 

 vealed the com- | 

 parative weak- i 

 ness of Austria % 

 and Italy, so that 

 now the Powers 

 that really count 

 number only four. 



Great Queen 

 Street. London 

 thoroughfare 

 linking Drury 

 Lane with Kings- 

 way, W.C. Con- 

 structed about 

 K529, and named 

 after Queen Henrietta Maria, many 

 of its houses were built by Inigo 

 Jones's pupil Webb. Here are the 

 Freemasons' Hall, 1775-76; Free- 

 masons' Tavern, 1786, and Kings- 

 way Theatre, 1900. Lord Herbert 

 of Cherbury wrote his De Veritate 

 here, and Sheridan is said to have 

 written The School for Scandal 

 at No. 55. Joshua Reynolds and 

 William Blake worked here as 

 apprentices. 



Great Rebellion. Name given 

 to the civil war in England which 

 ended in the execution of Charles 

 I in 1649, or, according to another 

 point of view, in the restoration of 

 Charles II in 1660. To the royalists 

 in the time of Charles II, as earlier, 

 the parliamentary movement ap- 

 peared as a rebellion, and the 

 phrase obtained greater currency 

 when Clarendon called his great 

 work The History of the Rebellion. 

 Mature considerations, however, 

 have led people to regard it more 

 as a civil war. See Civil War. 



Great Rift . Valley or depression 

 of the earth's surface. It extends 

 from the N. of Palestine to near the 

 borders of Natal. It is the longest 

 meridional land valley on the 

 earth, being nearly 5,000 m. in 

 length. Beginning in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Lebanon range, its 

 course lies through the Jordan and 

 Dead Sea, the gulfs of Akaba and 

 Suez, and the Red Sea, where it 

 strikes E. through the Gulf of Aden. 

 From Bab-el-Mandeb it crosses 

 French Somaliland and Abyssinia, 

 through Lakes Rudolf, Manyara, 

 and Nyasa to the Sheringoma 

 plateau in Portuguese E. Africa. 



At the N. extremity of Lake 

 Nyasa the valley branches off N. W. 

 through Lake Tanganyika, and 

 bearing N. and N.E. it reaches 

 Lakes Edward and Albert. From 

 Lake Tanganyika there are S.W. 

 and S. extensions to Lake Upemba 

 and Lake Mweru. 



Great Salt Lake. Extensive 

 water expanse in Utah, U.S.A. It 

 lies in the N.W. part of the state 

 on the E. side of the Great Basin, 

 is about 75 m. long by from 20 m. 

 to 50 m. broad, and has a mean 



GREAT SEAL 



Great Salt Lake. The Overland Limited or Mormon 

 Express crossing the bridge over the lake 



depth of 20 ft. Its surface elevation 

 is 4,220 ft. above sea level, and its 

 area,which varies greatly, according 

 to rainfall, was about 1,750 sq. m. 

 in 1850, but twenty years later its 

 size had increased to 2,175 sq. m. 



A natural salt lake, its waters 

 contain about 13 p.c. of mineral 

 salts, principally chloride of sodium, 

 and the production of salt by 

 evaporation is a considerable indus- 

 try. The lake is fed by the Bear, 

 Jordan, and other streams, and 

 through the Jordan receives the 

 waters of Lake Utah, but it has 

 no outlet. It ia remarkable for the 

 fact that its heavy waters do not 

 permit the human body to sink. 

 The existence of the lake was first 

 reported in 1689 by Baron La 

 Hontan. See Salt Lake City. 



Great Schism. Period from 

 1378 to 1417 during which two 

 rival popes claimed each to be the 

 sole head of the Church. In 1378 

 Urban VI was elected pope, the 

 papal court having just returned 

 to Rome after its exile at Avignon. 

 Against him the French party 

 elected an anti-pope, Clement VII. 

 In general the former was recog- 

 nized by all Christendom save 

 France, Scotland, and parts of 

 Germany and Italy under French 

 influence. Each party elected suc- 

 cessors on the deaths of the two 

 popes. Various attempts to heal 

 the breach failed, until in 1415 the 

 Council of Constance ended the 

 schism by the deposition of the 

 anti-pope John XXIII. The right- 

 ful pope, Gregory VII, Urban' s 

 successor, resigned, and in 1417 a 

 new pope, Martin V, was elected 

 and recognized by both parties. 

 See Constance, Council of ; Papacy. 



Great Seal. Emblem of sover- 

 eignty, customarily used in some 

 monarchical countries when the will 

 of the sovereign is expressed. In the 

 United Kingdom a new seal is 

 made at the beginning of each 

 reign, the old one being destroyed. 

 Edward the Confessor had one, 

 and its custody was entrusted to 

 the chancellor. Later there was a 

 separate official called the lord 

 keeper, who was responsible for the 



