GAZA GEBER. 



377 



seems to have been afforded by Swift, was first acted 

 in 1727, at Lincoln's-inn Fields, having been pre- 

 viously refused at Drury-lane. Tts chief purpose was 

 to ridicule the Italian opera ; but the spirit of the 

 poet rendered it a unique performance, from the mix- 

 ture of nature, pathos, burlesque, and satire which 

 it contains. It ran for sixty-three successive nights, 

 and transformed the actress who represented the 

 heroine into a duchess, but so offended the persons 

 in power, that the lord chamberlain refused to 

 license for performance a second part of it, entitled 

 Polly. This resentment induced his friends and the 

 party in opposition to come forward on its publication 

 with so handsome a subscription, that his profits 

 amounted to 1200, whereas the Beggar's Opera 

 had gained him only 400. The duke and duchess 

 of Queensbery took him into their house, and 

 managed his pecuniary concerns. He was soon after 

 seized with dejection of spirits, but enjoyed intervals 

 of ease sufficient to enable him to compose his sonata 

 of Acis and Galatea, and the opera of Achilles. He 

 died in 1732, and was interred in Westminster 

 abbey. His monument contains an epitaph by 

 Pope. Among his smaller pieces, his two ballads of 

 All in the Downs, and 'Twas when the Seas were 

 roaring, are much admired. 



GAZA, THEODORE ; a successor of Emanuel 

 Chrysoloras as teacher of the Greek language and 

 literature in the West. He came a fugitive, after 

 the capture of Constantinople, through Turkey to 

 Italy, and there speedily acquired a thorough know- 

 ledge of the language of the country. In 1440, he 

 was public teacher at Ferrara, and, in 1451, pope 

 Nicolas V. invited him, with other learned men, to 

 Rome, where cardinal Bessarion took him into his 

 suite. After the death of Nicolas, king Alphonso 

 invited him to Naples. When death had deprived 

 him of this patron also, he returned again to Rome. 

 Here, however, he was so mortified by the smallness 

 of a reward given him by Pope Sextus IV., for a 

 dedication, that he withdrew to Ferrara, and from 

 that place to Calabria, where he died, in 1478. 

 Gaza laboured for the diffusion of Greek literature 

 not only by teaching, but also by his writings, and 

 especially by Latin translations of the Greek classics. 

 His chief work is a translation of the writings of 

 Aristotle on natural history. 



GAZA ; a town of Palestine, about a mile from 

 the Mediterranean sea ; forty-four miles south-west 

 Jerusalem ; Ion. 34 40' E. ; lat. 31 25' N. ; popu- 

 lation, 5000. It is often mentioned in Scripture, 

 and was formerly a magnificent city, and strongly 

 fortified. It is now much reduced from its ancient 

 grandeur. The environs are exceedingly fertile, 

 and produce pomegranates, oranges, dates, and 

 flowers, in great request even at Constantinople. 

 Here is a manufacture of cotton, which employs 500 

 looms in the town and neighbourhood. There are 

 likewise great quantities of ashes made by the Arabs, 

 and used in the manufacture of soap ; but this 

 manufacture has declined. Gaza, at present, is a 

 large village, divided into two parts, called the 

 Upper and Lower. Both of these parts, taken 

 together, are now called Ga.za.ra; and the upper 

 part, where the castle is situated, has the same 

 name ; but the lower part is, by the Arabs, distin- 

 guished under the name of Haret el Segiaye. 



GAZELLE. See Antelope. 



GAZETTE ; a printed account of the transac- 

 tions of all the countries in the known world, in a 

 loose sheet or half sheet. This name, in England, 

 is confined to that paper of news published by autho- 

 rity of the government. The first gazette in Eng- 

 land was published at Oxford, November 7, 1665. 

 See Newspapers. 



GAZETTEER ; a geographical dictionary. The 

 first work of this kind, with which we are acquainted, 

 is that of Stephen of Byzantium, who lived in the 

 beginning of the sixth century. We have only an 

 abridgment of it. The first modern work of the 

 kind is the Dictionariiim Historico-Geographicum 

 (Geneva, 1565), by Charles Stephens, with additions, 

 by N. Lloyd (Oxford, 1670, and London, 1686). 

 The works of Ferrari (Lexicon Geographicum, 1627), 

 and Baudrand (Geogr. Or dine Liter arum Dispos.. 

 1C82), are full of the strangest errors. Those ot 

 Maty (1701), Thomas Corneille (3 vols., fol. 1708;, 

 and Savonarola (1713), were based on the former, 

 with additions and corrections. The Dictionnaire 

 Geographique , Historique et Critique, of La Marti- 

 niere (Hague and Amsterdam, 1726, 10 vols., folio, 

 Paris, 1768, 6 vols.), superseded all that had gone 

 before it, though it retained many errors. An 

 abridgment of it by Ladvocat, under the assumed 

 name of Foggier, has continued to be republished in 

 France till the present time. The Geographisch- 

 Statistisches Handworterbuch of the late eminent 

 German geographer Hassel (1817, 2 vols., with a 

 supplement of two volumes) is the result of laborious 

 and judicious investigations. The Universal Gazet- 

 teer,' by Cruttwell (London, 1808, 4 vols. 4to), and 

 the Edinburgh Gazetteer, (6 vols., 8vo, 18171822), 

 are the principal English works of the kind. The 

 latter, though not without errors, is a valuable 

 work. An abridgment, in one volume (1829), 

 professes to be brought down to the time of its pub- 

 lication, but does not in all instances bear marks 

 of revision. The most valuable and recent of 

 French gazetteers is the Dictionnaire Geogra- 

 phique Univcrsel, published at Paris. The first 

 volume appeared in 1823 (chez Kilian et Piquet), the 

 seventh in 1830. Among the contributors are 

 Depping, Klaproth, the Lapies, Remusat, Walc- 

 kenaer, and Warden. A. von Humboldt and the 

 late M. Malte-Brun have also assisted in the work. 

 The American Gazetteer of Mr J. E. Worcester 

 (second edition, Boston, 1823, 2 vols., 8vo), dis- 

 plays the industry and accuracy of its editor in a 

 favourable light. It is particularly valuable for 

 America. 



GEARING is the connexion of one toothed wheel 

 with another. See Mechanics. 



GEBEL, a corruption of the Arabic dj'ebel (moun- 

 tain), appears in many geographical names, as Gebei 

 Amar, &c. See Gibel. 



GEBER ; an Arabian philosopher, who, according 

 to Leo Africanus, lived in the eighth century. He 

 is said to have been a Greek by birth, and to have 

 apostatized from Christianity to Mohammedanism. 

 His writings relate to astronomy and chemistry, or 

 rather alchemy, on which last subject his authority 

 was so great, that he was styled the master of mas- 

 ters in that art. A Latin translation of his Com- 

 mentary on the Almagest of Ptolemy was printed at 

 Nuremberg, in 1533, and his alchemical works were 

 published in Latin, by Golius, under the title of 

 Lapis Philosophorum, and an English translation of 

 them by Robert Russell appeared at Leyden in 1668 

 (8vo). Geber corrected many errors in the astrono- 

 my of the ancients, and described chemical instru- 

 ments and operations with greater accuracy than his 

 predecessors. Vulgar ignorance ascribed to this 

 philosopher the character of a magician, on which 

 Naude remarks, that, from the catalogue of the 

 works of Geber, given by Gesner, it may be con- 

 cluded he understood every thing except magic. 



Another philosopher, named Geber, is supposed to 

 have been a native of Seville in Spain, and to have 

 flourished about 1090. These individuals have been 

 improperly confounded by some writers. 



