534 



GUILDER GUINEA. 



by purchase. As the principal privilege of these 

 societies consists in this right of voting, persons not 

 mechanics are frequently admitted members, to give 

 them this privilege. These guilds, in England, have 

 no right to prevent any man from exercising what 

 trade he pleases. The only restriction on the exer- 

 cise of trades is the statute of Elizabeth, requiring 

 seven years' apprenticeship. This the courts have 

 held to extend to such trades only as were in being 

 at the time of the passage of the statute ; and they 

 consider seven years' labour, either as master or 

 apprentice, as an apprenticeship. 



GUILDER. See Coins. 



GUILDFORD, a borough town in the county of 

 Surrey, on the banks of the river Wye, thirty miles 

 S. W. of London, formerly a residence of the English 

 kings. It sends two members to parliament, although 

 it has only a population of 3813 persons. 



GUILDHALL; the city hall of London. It was 

 first built in 1411, but almost entirely consumed in 

 the great fire. In 1669, it was rebuilt. The front 

 was not erected until 1789. The most remarkable 

 room of this edifice is the hall, 153 feet long, and 48 

 broad, and 55 high, capable of containing from 6000 

 to 7000 persons, and used for city feasts, the election 

 of meml>ers of parliament and city officers, and for 

 all public meetings of the livery and freemen. Monu- 

 ments, erected at the expense of the city, to the 

 memory of lord Nelson, William Pitt earl of Chatham, 

 William Pitt his son, and Beckford, lord mayor in 

 1763 and 1770, whose celebrated reply to his majesty 

 George III. is engraved beneath, ornament this hall. 

 In another room, that of the common council, is a 

 collection of pictures, some of great merit ; among 

 others, Copley's Destruction of the Spanish and 

 French Flotilla, before Gibraltar, and many portraits 

 of distinguished persons. The dinner which was 

 given here, in 1815, by the city of London, to the 

 emperor Alexander of Russia and other monarchs, 

 cost 20,000. 



GUILLOTIN, JOSEPH IGNATIUS, a French physi- 

 cian, was born at Saintes, in 1738. He was at first 

 a Jesuit, and professor in the Irish college at Bor- 

 deaux, but afterwards studied medicine, and h'ved in 

 Paris. He was one of the commissioners appointed 

 to examine the pretended cures of Mesmer, which he 

 contributed much to discredit. A pamphlet (in 1788) 

 on some abuses in the administration, gained him 

 great popularity, and caused his election into the 

 national convention. Here he was principally occu- 

 pied with introducing a better organization of the 

 medical department. A machine, which he proposed 

 should be used for the purpose of capital punish- 

 ment, was called, from him, the guillotine, (q. v.) 

 He narrowly escaped suffering himself by this instru- 

 ment. He died in 1814, at Paris, where he was 

 much esteemed as a physician. 



GUILLOTINE. This instrument has been erro- 

 neously called an invention of Guillotin, a physician 

 at Paris, during the French revolution, concerning 

 whose character very false notions have also been 

 entertained. (See the preceding article.) A similar 

 instrument, called mannaia, was used in Italy for 

 beheading criminals of noble birth. The maiden, 

 formerly used in Scotland, was also constructed on 

 the same principle. The convention having deter- 

 mined, on the proposition of Guillotin, to substitute 

 decapitation for hanging, as being less ignominious 

 for the family of the person executed, the guillotine 

 was adopted, also on his proposition, as being the 

 least painful mode of inflicting the punishment. It 

 was erected in the place de Grrve, and the first cri- 

 minal suffered by it April 25, 1792. Portable guil- 

 lotines, made of iron, were afterwards constructed. 

 They \vere carried from place to place, for the 



purpose of executing sick persons. This machine 

 consists of two upright pillars, in the grooves of 

 which a mass of iron, sharpened at the lower extre- 

 mity, is made to move by cords. Being raised to a 

 certain height, it falls, and at once severs the head of 

 the criminal (who is laid upon a horizontal scafibldintr) 

 from his body. It is much surer than the sword or 

 axe, which is sometimes used for decapitation, ami <>1 

 which we read, in many instances, that several blows 

 have been necessary to put an end to tlie life of the 

 sufferer. In the reign of terror, it was called 

 tres sainte Guillotine by the most violent political 

 fanatics. It is still the common instrument of capital 

 punishment in France. 



GUINEA ; a name applied to a large extent of 

 the western coast of Africa, of which the limits are 

 not very definite. Geographers, however, seem now 

 to have agreed in fixing, as the boundaries of Guinea, 

 the Rio Mesurado and the western extremity of Benin, 

 comprehending a space of about thirteen degrees of 

 longitude. This large territory is usually divided 

 into four portions, called the Gram coast, the Ivory 

 coast, the Gold coast, and the Slave coast. The Grain 

 coast, called also the Malaghetta, or Pepper coast, 

 extends from the Mesurado to the village of Growa, 

 about ten miles beyond cape Palmas. The aromatic 

 plant from which this coast derives its name, ap- 

 peared, when Europeans first landed on this coast, 

 a delicious luxury. As soon, however, as they became 

 familiar with the more delicate and exquisite aroma- 

 tics of the East, this coarser one fell into disrepute ; 

 and as this coast afforded neither gold nor ivory, and 

 was not favourable for procuring slaves, it has been 

 comparatively little frequented. About ten miles to 

 the east of cape Palmas commences what by Euro- 

 pean navigators is termed the Ivory coast. This 

 name is derived from the great quantity of ivory, or 

 elephants' teeth, which is brought from the interior 

 countries. Gold is also tolerably plentiful. Although 

 the Ivory coast is thus tolerably supplied with mate- 

 rials of trade, it has never been very extensively 

 frequented. The Ivory coast is populous and thickly 

 set with villages, but does not contain any town of 

 much consideration. It reaches to cape Apollonia. 

 The Gold coast extends from cape Apollonia to the 

 Rio Volta, which separates it from the Slave coast. 

 Of all parts of Guinea, and, indeed, of the African 

 coast, it is the one where European settlements and 

 trade have been carried to the greatest extent. It 

 has been frequented at different times by the Portu- 

 guese, the Danes, Swedes, Dutch, and British. Bri- 

 tain has now a more extensive footing upon this coast 

 than any other nation. She maintains a range of 

 forts, the expense of which is defrayed by the Afri- 

 can company, out of a grant of 23,000 per annum, 

 made by government for that purpose ; but the trade 

 is thrown open to all the subjects of the British 

 nation. Although the Gold coast is situated almost 

 immediately under the line, the thermometer has 

 scarcely been known to rise above ninety-three de- 

 grees, and the common heat of midsummer is only 

 from eighty-five to ninety. The country, from the 

 sea, appears like an immense forest, parts only of 

 which are cleared for the purpose of cultivation. 

 High lands are seen in various directions, crowned 

 with lofty trees and thick underwood ; the soil along 

 the coast varies from a light, sandy, and gravelly 

 texture to a fine black mould and loamy clay. As 

 we advance into the interior, it sensibly improves, 

 and, at the distance of six or eight miles from the 

 shore, becomes rich in the extreme, and fit for any 

 species of cultivation. The natives inhabiting the 

 Gold coast present a considerable variety. The most 

 prominent place is held by the Fantees. Of late 

 ! years, another power, before almost unknown to 



