GR1SELDA 



excessive, because this dried rapidly 

 and did not incorporate with the 

 colours of the over-painting. 



Griselda, GRISSELL, GRIZZLE, 

 OR GRISELDIS. Heroine of tra- 

 ditional fiction. She is regarded 

 as the model of wifely obedience 

 and patience. Her story, generally 

 derived from Boccaccio, who may 

 have got it from an earlier source, 

 has been told by Petrarch, by 

 Chaucer (in the Clerk's Tale), has 

 several times been treated dramat- 

 ically, in Germany by Hans Sachs 

 (1546), in England by John Phillip 

 (1565), Henry Chettle (1603), and 

 others, and has been rendered in 

 ballad form. 



Grisette (Fr. gris, grey). Name 

 given in France to a girl or young 

 woman of the working-class. It im- 

 plies a certain capacity for enjoy- 

 ment and an absence of restraint, 

 but not necessarily immorality. 

 The name was given to them be- 

 cause the girls were usually dressed 

 in garments made of a woollen 

 cloth called grisette from its grey 

 colour. 



Grisi, GITJLIA (1811-69). Italian 

 singer. Born in Milan, July 28, 

 1811, of a family of singers, she ap- 

 I peared in Ros- 

 | sini's Zelmira 

 I when only 17, 

 1 and thencefor- 

 j ward enjoyed 

 ! continuous 

 s success until 

 ^Slfcx^ her death in 

 3 Berlin, Nov. 29, 

 Z^Jm 1869. Very 

 beautiful and 

 highly gifted, 

 both as a soprano singer and an 

 actress, Madame Grisi was a mem- 

 ber of that famous quartet which 

 included Rubini, Tamburini, and 

 Lablache, and for which Bellini 

 composed I Puritani. 



Gris Nez (Grey nose). Cape of 

 France, in the dept. of Pas-de- 

 Calais, on the Strait of Dover at 

 its narrowest point. It is the 

 nearest part of France to the Eng- 

 lish coast. 



Grison OR HURON (GaUiclis). 

 Carnivorous mammal of the weasel 

 family found in S. America and 

 Mexico. It is about as large as a 

 marten, and is grey on the back 

 and dark brown on the under- 

 parts, with yellow tips to the tail 

 and ears. It lives in hollow trees 

 and clefts in the rock, and preys 

 upon small birds and mammals. 



Grisons (Ger. Graubunden). 

 Easternmost and largest canton of 

 Switzerland. It is bounded N. and 

 E. by Austria and S. by Italy, and 

 has an area of 2,773 sq. m. Com- 

 posed of the basins of the Upper 

 Rhine and the Inn, with that of 

 two tributaries of the Ticino and 



Giulia Grisi, 

 Italian singer 



3710 



one of the Adda, it is almost wholly 

 mountainous, comprising most of 

 the ancient Rhaetia. There are 

 many mineral springs, forests, and 

 mt. pasturages, the lower ones sus- 

 taining a fine breed of cows. The 

 climate is generally severe, and 

 the vegetation Alpine, though the 

 vine and maize are grown in shel- 

 tered spots. 



The capital is Chur or Coire 

 (q.v.); other important towns are 

 Dissentis, Davos, and Arosa. The 

 canton includes the Engadine or 

 upper valley of the Inn, noted for 

 its scenery. One of the most 

 sparsely populated cantons, of its 

 population nearly one half are 

 Catholic and German - speaking, 

 and the rest speak Romansch 

 dialects or Italian. 



Until 1798 the canton consisted 

 of three leagues the Grey League 

 (founded 1395), the League of 

 God's House (1367), and that of 

 the Ten Jurisdictions (1436). These 

 combined in the Three Perpetual 

 Leagues in 1471. After a troublous 

 history it joined the Helvetic Re- 

 public, 1799-1801, and in 1803 it 

 entered the Swiss Confederation. 

 Pop. 118,262. 



Grisounite (Fr. grisou, fire 

 damp). French safety explosive, 

 used in coal mines. It consists 

 chiefly of varying proportions of 

 ammonium nitrate, dinitronaph- 

 thalene, potassium nitrate, etc. 

 See Explosives. 



Grist (A.S., to grind). Word 

 originally applied to the act of 

 grinding corn. It came to be used 

 for the corn ground and the meal 

 produced, and colloquially for any- 

 thing that is a source of profit. 

 Grist is also used for a size of rope ; 

 e.g. common grist is a rope 3 ins. in 

 circumference. 



Gris wold, RTJFUS WiLMOT(1815 

 -57). American author. Born at 

 Benson, Vermont, Feb. 15, 1815, 

 he became a journalist. For a time 

 he was a Baptist minister, but 

 returning to newspaper work he 

 joined the staff of a paper in New 

 York. Later, he edited Graham's 

 Magazine and The International 

 Magazine. Griswold made several 



GROCER 



useful collections of prose and 

 verse, including Poets and Poetry 

 of America, 1842, and wrote Re- 

 publican Court, 1854, an account 

 of society in the time of Washing- 

 ton. He died Aug. 27, 1857. 



Grit. v Consoli dated sand of 

 which the particles are angular and 

 comparatively coarse. See Sand ; 

 Sandstone. 



- 'Grizzly. Name of a large bear. 

 The word means rather grey. A 

 powerful creature, the grizzly 

 inhabits the mountainous districts 

 of the west of Canada and the 

 U.S.A. It is much larger and 

 heavier than the brown bear, which 

 to some extent it resembles, and 

 is only dangerous when attacked 

 or hungry. See Bear. 



Groat ( Low German,grrote, great). 

 English silver coin, now demone- 

 tised. The groat was first issued in 



Groat. Two sides of the coin minted 

 by Edward HI, 1 in. diameter 



England by Edward III in 1351, 

 minted at London and York, its 

 original value being one penny, but 

 coming to have the value of four- 

 pence. A new issue was made by 

 Henry VII, but the groat was dis- 

 continued in 1662. It was revived 

 as a silver fourpenny piece by 

 William IV in 1836, and the fact 

 of its issue having been advised by 

 Joseph Hume gave it the popular 

 name of the " Joey." Issue was 

 dropped in 1856, and it was de- 

 monetised in 1887. 



The Scots groat was issued at 

 Edinburgh by David II in 1358, 

 and James V coined a groat 

 in 1527. An Irish groat was 

 issued by Henry VI in 1460. See 

 Coinage. 



Grocer. Modern form of 

 grosser, one who dealt wholesale 

 (en gros). In modern usage 

 the word is ap- 

 plied to a re- 

 tailer of tea, 

 sugar, coffee, 

 spices, etc., which 

 are known col- 

 lectively as gro- 

 ceries. In me- 

 dieval times he 

 was known as a 

 spicer. ^ Hence 

 the names Grocer 

 and Spicer. In 

 the United King- 



Grisons, Switzerland. General view of Coire, the capital f om the g roc era 

 town of the canton have a regular 



