376 



GAUL GAY. 



their kindred tribe in Asia, the Galatians, met with 

 the same fate ; they also were vanquished, and their 

 princes (tetrarchs) became tributary. Dejotarus, in 

 whose defence Cicero delivered an excellent oration, 

 which we still possess, was one of these princes at a 

 later period. The ambition of the Romans soon 

 surmounted the Alps also. They liad subjected 

 Spain, and it was important to them to have a pas- 

 sage by land, by which they could easily march 

 troops into that country. By the subjection of the 

 Allobroges and Arverni, the latter of whom were at 

 tliat time the principal nation in Gaul, the Romans, 

 in the years 128 122 B. C., conquered the southern 

 part of Gaul along the sea, from the Alps to the 

 Pyrenees. The descriptions of the Arverni and their 

 kings show their splendour to have been considerable. 

 They had stately courts, at which even poets were 

 maintained. It is related that they kept dogs both 

 for hunting and for war (like the Spaniards in the 

 West Indies). Soon afterwards, Europe was agitated, 

 from the Black sea to Spain, by the expeditions of 

 the Teutones and Cimbri, nations of German origin. 

 They were joined by many tribes, particularly Gauls, 

 who, from tune immemorial, had been connected 

 and mixed with the Cimbri; and they destroyed 

 four consular armies. Rome, the mistress of the 

 world, trembled at the irruption of these barbarians 

 into Italy ; but Caius Marius (q. v.) saved the re- 

 public. In two bloody battles, at Aix in 102, and at 

 Vercelli in 101 B. C., he destroyed these nations. 

 Their wives, after having supplicated in vain, that 

 they might be consecrated to perpetual chastity as 

 priestesses of Vesta, killed their children, and then 

 put an end to their own existence. Only that portion of 

 these nations which had remained in Gaul, to await 

 the issue of the expedition, escaped the general ruin. 

 Forty-three years after this event, Caius Julius Czesar 

 received the proconsulship over the countries bor- 

 dering on Gaul. He resolved to subject all Gaul, 

 and -executed his purpose in less than nine years 

 (58 50 B. C.), in eight bloody campaigns. Cassar 

 found Gaul torn by internal dissensions ; enfeebled by 

 the attacks of the Germans, a body of whom, under 

 their king Ariovistus (Ehrfest), had passed the 

 Rhine, and many nations, especially the ldm, old 

 allies of Rome, favourably disposed towards him. 

 At first, he assumed the character of a deliverer and 

 protector of the Gauls, driving back the Helvetii 

 into their own country, and compelling Ariovistus 

 also to return to Germany. At a later period, he 

 subdued the fierce Belgae, and repelled the incur- 

 sions of several German tribes. But the warlike 

 spirit of the Gauls was not yet extinguished, and, 

 though no longer possessed of the fierce valour of 

 their ancestors, they had become more ready to imi- 

 tate the regular warfare of the Romans. When 

 they perceived that the Roman troops were continu- 

 ally maintained in their country, tney became 

 alarmed for their liberty, and rose against their op- 

 pressors. More than once the Romans suffered heavy 

 losses ; but their superiority in the art of war, and 

 the genius and fortune of Caesar (after the sacrifice 

 of a million of Gauls), secured them the final victory. 

 The last great leader of the Gauls, the valiant Ver- 

 cingetorix, after having sustained one of the most 

 remarkable sieges in the records of ancient times in 

 the city of Alesia (now Alise, near Dijon), was com- 

 pelled, in the year 52 B. C., to surrender to the 

 Romans. Some later revolts proved fruitless. 

 Cajsar completed the subjugation of Gaul, and, by 

 means of the money and troops of that country, 

 rendered himself absolute master of the whole 

 Roman empire. The dominion of the Romans in 

 Gaul was confirmed by colonies, and the liberal 

 grunt of the Roman citizenship to several Gallic 



tribes. The religion of the Druids, being suppressed 

 in Gaul by Tiberius and Claudius, gradually re. 

 treated into Britain, where, particularly on the 

 small islands near the British coasts, the priests 

 established their mysterious rites, of which, in 

 ancient times, strange and dreadful accounts were 

 current. The Britons also were soon conquered by 

 the Romans. After the extinction of the family of the 

 Caesars, the Gauls once more made an attempt to 

 recover their liberty by the aid of the Gennans, but 

 in vain. After this last effort, they gradually be- 

 came Roman citizens, and so entirely Romanized, 

 that even their ancient language, the Celtic, was 

 supplanted by a corrupt Latin dialect, retaining, 

 however, a considerable number of Celtic words, 

 especially as roots, which, intermingled with Fran- 

 co-Germanic words, formed the modern language. 

 About the year 486, the Franks subdued the 

 greater part of Gaul, and put a period to the domi- 

 nion of the Romans in that country. The ancient 

 Celtic language, though it underwent great altera- 

 tions, in the course of time, has been preserved in 

 its greatest purity in the Gaelic of the Highlanders, 

 or the Erse in Ireland, and the Celto-German lan- 

 guage (of the Belgae and Cimbri) in Wales, Corn- 

 wall, and Basse-Bretagne. 



GAURS. See Guebres. 



GAUT ; a term made use of in the East Indies, 

 to denote a passage or road from the coast to the 

 mountainous or upland country. See Hindostan. 



GAUZE, in commerce, a thin, transparent stuff, 

 sometimes woven with silk, sometimes only of thread. 

 Gauzes are either plain or figured. The latter are 

 worked with flowers of silver or gold, on a silk 

 ground, and are chiefly imported from China. 

 Gauzes of excellent quality have., of late years, been 

 manufactured at Paisley. 



GAY, JOHN, an eminent English poet, was born 

 at or near Barnstaple, in 1688, and, after an educa- 

 tion at the free-school at Barnstaple, apprenticed to 

 a silk-mercer in London. He showed such a dis- 

 like to trade, that after a few years his indentures 

 were cancelled by agreement, and he devoted him- 

 self to literature. In 1711, he published his Rural 

 Sports, which he dedicated to Pope. This compli- 

 ment introduced them to each other, and proved the 

 foundation of a friendship which lasted for life. In 

 1712, he accepted the office of secretary to Anne, 

 duchess of Monmouth, which left him at leisure to 

 pay his court to the muses ; and his pleasant mock- 

 heroic poem, entitled Trivia, or the Art of Walking 

 the Streets of London, was published in the same 

 year. In 1714, his caricature of Ambrose Philips's 

 pastoral poetry was published, under the title of the 

 Shepherd's Week, and dedicated to lord Bolingbroke, 

 who, with the Tory party then in power, much be- 

 friended the poet. By their interest he was ap- 

 pointed secretary to the earl of Clarendon, in his 

 embassy to the court of Hanover ; but the death of 

 the queen once more threw a cloud upon his pros- 

 pects. In 1715 appeared his burlesque drama of 

 What d'ye Call it? which was followed by a farce, 

 in conjunction with Pope and Arbuthnot, called 

 Three Weeks after Marriage, which altogether 

 failed. In 1720, he published his poems by subscrip- 

 tion, by which he secured a thousand pounds, and a 

 present of South sea stock, from secretary Craggs. 

 In 1723, he produced his tragedy of the Captives ; 

 and some instances of court favour encouraged him 

 to employ himself in his well-known Fables, written 

 professedly for the instruction of the duke of Cum- 

 berland, and published with a dedication to that 

 prince in 1726. This performance exhibits great 

 ease of narration, and much lively and natural paint- 

 ing. His Beggar's Opera, the notion of which 



