GRIESBACII GRIMALDI. 



565 



the formation of which and the greywacke a consid- 

 erable period must have elapsed, as the fragments of 

 the latter invariably consist of lower rocks, and never 

 of the upper strata. Greywacke but very rarely 

 contains organic remains ; but the limestones and 

 slates, with which it alternates, present them in con- 

 siderable quantity, and such as belong to genera 

 almost exclusively unknown at present, and which 

 never occur in the upper strata. Though the gold 

 of Hungary and Siberia is found in this rock, still it 

 cannot be said to be prolific in metals or other useful 

 minerals. When fine grained, it forms a valuable 

 building stone. It is the material of which the forti- 

 fications at Quebec in Lower Canada are chiefly con- 

 structed. Greywacke is very extensively distributed 

 in Europe. It forms the eastern declivity of the 

 mountains of Brazil, and abounds throughout the 

 chain of the Alleghanies. 



GRIESBACH, JOHN JAMES, first professor of 

 theology at Jena, acquired a permanent reputation 

 by his critical edition of the New Testament, and by 

 the education of several thousand youth. Born at 

 Butzbach in Hesse-Darmstadt, in 1745, he removed, 

 while a child, to Frankfort on the Maine, where his 

 father, a preacher and consistorial counsellor, died in 

 1777. He received his first instruction at the gym- 

 nasium of Frankfort, and removed to the university 

 of Tubingen in 1762. In 1764, he went to Halle, 

 and afterwards spent a year at Leipsic. Ecclesias- 

 tical history was the subject of his studies, in which 

 Ernesti, at Leipsic, aided him with books and advice. 

 He next undertook, at Halle, an extensive course of 

 preliminary studies to the criticism of the New 

 Testament and dogmatic history. Having resolved 

 to devote himself altogether to the criticism of the 

 text of the New Testament, he undertook, in 1769, 

 and 1770, a literary journey through Germany, Eng- 

 land, Holland, and France. The following winter 

 he devoted, in his native city, to the elaboration of 

 his materials ; and, in 1771, appeared as a lecturer 

 in Halle, with such applause, in consequence of his 

 celebrated treatise on the criticisms of Origen on the 

 Gospels, that, two years after, he was appointed pro- 

 fessor. He now pursued, with indefatigable industry, 

 his plan of an edition of the New Testament. Hav- 

 ing received an appointment to a regular professor- 

 ship of theology at Jena, he published a synopsis of 

 the Gospels. This was soon followed by the first 

 edition of the whole Testament. Its peculiarity is, 

 that it does not merely consider the accepted or re- 

 jected readings, but the different degrees of probabi- 

 lity for or against them are determined and repre- 

 sented by intelligible marks in the margin. It is to 

 be lamented that he could not finish, as he had 

 intended, the complete edition, which was begun in 

 1796, and appeared simultaneously at Halle and 

 London. He was, however, incessantly employed 

 on it till his death (in 1812), and lived to see the 

 superb edition, published by Goschen, finished. 

 G abler has edited Griesbach's Opuscula Academica, 

 Jena, 1824, 2 vols. 



GRIFFIN, or GRYPHON (y^); a fabulous 

 monster of antiquity, commonly represented with the 

 body, the feet and claws of a lion, the head and wings 

 of an eagle, the ears of a horse, and, instead or a 

 mane, a comb of fishes' fins : the back was covered 

 with feathers. ./Elian says that its back was covered 

 with black feathers, its breast with red, and its wings 

 with white. Ctesias gives him blue and shining 

 neck feathers, the beak of an eagle, and fiery eyes. 

 Later writers add other particulars. According to 

 the book De Rerum Nalurd, it is larger than an 

 eagle, has on its fore feet large claws, like those of 

 an eagle, and others on its hind feet, like those of a 

 lion ; and it lays an agate in its nest. Drinking 



cups are made from its talons. The griffin is so 

 strong, says Ctesias, that he conquers all beasts, the 

 lion and elephant only excepted. India was assigned 

 as the native country of the griffins, and it was be- 

 lieved that they built their nests on the mountains ; 

 that they could be easily caught and tamed when 

 young, but never when full grown ; that they found 

 gold in the mountains, and built their nests of it ; or, 

 according to other accounts, that they feared those 

 who sought for gold in the mountains, and defended 

 their young against their attacks. Bottiger, in his 

 Fasengemalde, has given much information concern- 

 ing the origin of this fabulous animal. He maintains 

 that this and similar monsters are merely the crea- 

 tion of Indian tapestry-makers, who, from the most 

 ancient times, employed themselves on strange com- 

 positions of mythological beasts. The Greeks, who 

 saw this kind of tapestry at the court of the king of 

 Persia, thought that the animals depicted on it were 

 really inhabitants of India, so rich in wonders, and 

 they spread the report. So much is certain, tliat the 

 notion of this bird came from Asia into Greece in the 

 train of Bacchus. He was, therefore, the symbol of 

 illumination and wisdom. 



GRIMALDI (family) ; one of the four fkmilies of 

 the high nobility in Genoa. The lordship of Monaco 

 (afterwards elevated to a principality) belonged, for 

 more than 600 years (beginning with 980), to the 

 Grimaldi. With the Fiescos, they always played an 

 important part in the history of Genoa, especially in 

 the disputes between the Ghibelines and the Guelfs, 

 to which latter party both families belonged. Large 

 estates in the kingdom of Naples, in France and 

 Italy, increased the influence of the Grimaldi, from 

 whom proceeded several eminent men. 



1. Ranieri Grimaldi was the first Genoese who 

 conducted the naval forces of the republic beyond 

 the straits of Gibraltar. In the service of Philip the 

 Fair of France, Grimaldi sailed to Zealand in 1304, 

 with sixteen Genoese galleys and twenty French 

 ships under his command. He there defeated and 

 made prisoner the count Guy of Flanders, who com- 

 manded the enemy's fleet of eighty sail. 



2. Antonio Grimaldi, likewise, distinguished him- 

 self in the naval service in the first half of the four- 

 teenth century. The Catalonians had committed 

 hostilities against Genoa, which city had been pre- 

 vented by internal discord from punishing the offence. 

 But when a more favourable moment arrived, An- 

 tonio received the command of the fleet, with the 

 commission to devastate the coasts of Catalonia. 

 This commission the Genoese performed but too 

 faithfully. He also defeated an Arragonese fleet of 

 forty-two sail. Twenty-one years after, he suffered 

 such a defeat from the combined Venetian and Cata- 

 lonian fleets, under the command of Nicolas Pisani, 

 that, of the whole Genoese fleet, only seventeen 

 vessels escaped. This defeat (29th of August, 1353) 

 obliged the Genoese to submit to John Visconti, lord 

 of Milan, who promised them protection against 

 their enemies, the Venetians. 



3. Giovanni Grimaldi is celebrated for the victory 

 which he gained, May 23, 1431, over the Venetian 

 admiral, Nic. Travisani, on the Po, although Car- 

 magnola, the most distinguished general of his time, 

 was ready to support the Venetians, with a consider- 

 able army, on the banks of the river. By an able 

 manoeuvre, Grimaldi separated the Venetian fleet 

 from the bank, where the army was stationed (three 

 miles below Cremona), and thus succeeded, not only 

 in utterly defeating the enemy, but in taking twenty- 

 eight galleys and a great number of transports, with 

 immense spoils. 



4. Domenico Grimaldi, cardinal, archbishop, and 

 vice-legate of Avignon, lived in the sixteenth cei> 



