496 



GODFREY GODOLPHIN. 



Kdnumd llalley, in England, in which he described 

 fully the construction and uses of Godfrey's instru- 

 ment. In tlie sum- year, Godfrey himself also pre- 

 pared an ammnt of his ir.vt'iition, addressed to the 

 royal society of London ; but it was not then trans- 

 mitted, from the expectation which he entertained of 

 the effect of the letter to Halley. No notice, how- 

 ever, was taken of it by that savant, and, after an 

 interval of a year and a half, Logan resolved to have 

 the matter submitted immediately to the royal society. 

 For this purpose, he transmitted a copy of the letter, 

 together with the pnper of Godfrey, to Mr Peter Col- 

 linson, an eminent botanist and member of the society, 

 engaging him to lay them before that body. This was 

 accordingly done ; but Mr Hadley, the vice-president 

 of the society, had already presented them a paper, 

 dated May 13, 1731, containing a full description 

 and rationale of a reflecting quadrant of the same 

 cliaracter, which he claimed as his invention, and the 

 paper was inserted in the volume of the Philosophical 

 Transactions for that year. Thus there were two 

 claimants to the invention of the instrument ; but it 

 was decided tliat they both were entitled to the hon- 

 our of it, and the society sent to Godfrey, as a re- 

 ward, household furniture to the value of 200, 

 instead of money, on account of his habits of intem- 

 perance. The instrument has gone by the name of 

 Hadley 's, but it should rather be called Godfrey's, 

 for the American may certainly be deemed its tirst 

 discoverer, although the idea of it may have also been 

 original in the mind of Hadley. Time enough, how- 

 ever, intervened between the period of Godfrey's 

 discovery and that of the presentation of Hadley's 

 paper to the royal society, for the latter to have re- 

 ceived some account of the instrument. Mr Godfrey 

 died in December, 1749. Doctor Franklin says of 

 nim, " Among the first members of our junto was 

 Thomas Godfrey, a self-taught mathematician, great 

 in his way, and afterwards inventor of what is now 

 called Hadley's quadrant. But he knew little out of 

 his way, and was not a pleasing companion, as, like 

 most great mathematicians I have met with, he ex- 

 pected universal precision in every thing said, and 

 was forever denying or distinguishing upon trifles, to 

 the disturbance of all conversation. I continued to 

 board with Godfrey, who lived in part of my house, 

 with his wife and children, and had one side of the 

 shop for his glazier's business, though he worked little, 

 being always absorbed in mathematics," 



GODFREY, THOMAS, junior, the son of the fore- 

 going, and a poet of some merit, was boni in Phila- 

 delphia, in 1736. Disliking the drudgery of a mecha- 

 nical occupation, he abandoned the trade of his father, 

 as well as the art of watchmaking, to which he had 

 been apprenticed, and obtained a lieutenancy in the 

 provincial troops raised, in 1758, for an expedition 

 against fort Du Quesne. This station he retained 

 until the forces were disbanded. He then establish- 

 ed himself as a factor in North Carolina, where he 

 died, three years afterwards, August 3, 1763, in the 

 twenty-seventh year of his age, in consequence of 

 violent exercise on a very warm day. Little atten- 

 tion was paid to Mr Godfrey's education, but he was 

 ever ardent in the pursuit of knowledge, and became 

 exceedingly well versed in the works of the English 

 poets. His own poetical talents were early manifest- 

 ed by his publications in the American Magazine, 

 printed in Philadelphia. His principal poem is the 

 Court of Fancy ; and, among his minor pieces, his 

 Epistle from Fort Henry may be cited with eulogy. 

 Some of his pastorals and elegies possess also a degree 

 of beauty. But he is principally distinguished as 

 the author of the first American drama This pro- 

 duction is called The Prince of PareAia, a tragedy, 

 which, with various defects, has some redeeming [ 



merits. After his death, his poems were collected, 

 and, in 1765, were published in Philadelphia, preced- 

 ed by a critical review of them, by doctor Smith, and 

 a biography of the author, by his friend Nathaniel 

 Evans. 



GODFREY, SIR EDMONDBURY; a magistrate who 

 was active in the discovery of the popish plot. He 

 was soon after found dead, pierced with his own 

 sword. His death was imputed to the resentment of 

 the papists, and therefore his remains were buried 

 with great pomp. He died October 17, 1678. 



GODIVA. See Coventry. 



GODMAN, DOCTOR JOHN D., an eminent Ameri- 

 can lecturer and writer, was born at Annapolis, in 

 Maryland, and, having lost his parents at an early 

 age, was bound apprentice to a printer in Baltimore. 

 Disliking his business, he abandoned it after a few 

 years, and, in the autumn of 1813, entered as a sailor 

 boy, on board the flotilla stationed in Chesapeake 

 bay. At the end of the war, when about fifteen, he 

 commenced the study of medicine. He then remov- 

 ed to Baltimore, where he prosecuted his studies with 

 such success, in the office of an eminent physician, 

 that he was chosen to fill the place of his preceptor, 

 who was professor of anatomy in the university of 

 Maryland, whilst the latter was disabled by sickness 

 from attending to his duties. His lectures gave so 

 much pleasure to those who heard him, that strong 

 symptoms of regret were manifested when he was 

 obliged to relinquish the station. He afterwards 

 was induced to remove to Cincinnati, on the Ohio, by 

 an offer of the chair of anatomy, in a medical school 

 which was about to be established in that town. But 

 as the school did not succeed, he returned, after a 

 year, and settled in Philadelphia, as a physician and 

 private teacher of anatomy, and, for some time, assist- 

 ed in editing doctor Chapman's Medical Journal. It 

 was about this time that he published his popular 

 Natural History of American Quadrupeds, in three 

 volumes octavo. Having been solicited to accept the 

 professorship of anatomy in Rutgers' Medical College, 

 at New York, he removed thither ; and at last his af- 

 fairs assumed a prosperous aspect. He acquired an 

 extensive practice as a surgeon, and the college 

 flourished ; but in the midst of his second course of 

 lectures, a severe cold settled on his lungs, accom- 

 panied by a copious hemorrhage, which obliged him 

 to relinquish his pursuits. After having visited 

 Santa Cruz, without permanent benefit to his health, 

 he removed, in 1829, to Philadelphia, where he died, 

 April 17, 1830, in the thirty-second year of his age. 

 Though doctor Godman's early education had been 

 greatly neglected, yet, by his indefatigable industry, 

 he made himself master of Latin, French and German, 

 besides acquiring a considerable knowledge of Greek, 

 Italian and Spanish. His learning, as a physician 

 and naturalist, was very extensive, and there were 

 few subjects of general literature in which he was 

 not well versed. Among other pursuits, to which 

 he turned his attention, was the study of ancient 

 coins, of which he acquired a critical knowledge. 

 Natural history, however, was his favourite pin suit, 

 and it is as a naturalist that he has left behind him 

 the greatest reputation. His American Natural 

 History, and his Rambles of a Naturalist, are works 

 of high merit. 



GODOLPHIN, SIDNEY, earl of Godolphin, began 

 a career of politics at an early age, under Charles II., 

 and was one of those who voted for the exclusion of 

 the duke of York from the throne in 1C80, notwith- 

 standing which he continued in office after the acces- 

 sion of James II. On the flight of that monarch, 

 and while the country was yet in suspense, Godolphin 

 voted for a regency, yet was, after the settlement ot 

 the crown on William and Mary, made a treasury 



