GUITAR GUM. 



587 



a general favourite. He put himself at the head of 

 an army, under the pretence of defending the Catholic 

 faith, and advised the cruel massacre of St Bartholo- 

 mew (1512). From motives of personal revenge, he 

 took upon himself the assassination of Coligny, 

 whom he called the murderer of his father. In 1576 

 was formed the League, first projected by his uncle, 

 the cardinal of Lorraine. For this purpose, it was pro- 

 posed to the most zealous citizens of Paris to join in a 

 league, which had for its avowed object the defence 

 of religion, of the king, and of the freedom of the 

 state, but in reality tended to the oppression both of 

 the king and the nation. The duke of Guise, who 

 wished to raise himself upon the ruins of France, 

 inflamed the seditions, obtained several victories over 

 the Calvinists, and soon saw himself in a situation to 

 prescribe laws to his prince. He obliged Henry III. 

 to annul all the privileges of the Huguenots, and car- 

 ried so far his imperious demands, that the king, at last 

 forbade him to come to Paris. Nevertheless, he ap- 

 peared there in 1588, and obliged the king to leave 

 the city and conclude a treaty with him. Flushed by 

 this triumph, he became imprudent, and clearly 

 showed that he aimed at the highest power. In 

 consequence of the treaty, the estates were assembled 

 at Blois. The king, informed of the ambitious 

 plans of the duke, took counsel with his confidants, 

 D'Aumont, Rambouillet, and Beauvais-Nangis, and 

 all three were of opinion that it was impossible to 

 bring him to a regular trial, but that he must be 

 privately despatched, and that this measure would be 

 justified by his open treason. The brave Crillon 

 refused to take upon himself the execution of this 

 plan. It was therefore intrusted to Lognac, first cham- 

 berlain of the king, and captain of forty-five Gascon 

 noblemen, of the new royal guard. He selected 

 nine of the most resolute, and concealed them in the 

 king's cabinet. The duke had, indeed, been warned, 

 and his brother, the cardinal, advised him to go to 

 Paris ; but, upon the advice of the archbishop of 

 Lyons, who represented to him that his friends would 

 lose courage if he left Blois at so favourable a 

 moment, he resolved to await the worst. On the 

 following day, Dec. 23, 1588. he went to the king, 

 and was somewhat concerned at seeing the guards 

 strengthened. As soon as he had entered the first 

 hall, the doors were shut. He preserved, however, 

 a calm exterior, and saluted the bystanders as usual. 

 But when about to enter the cabinet, he was stabbed 

 with several daggers, and, before he could draw his 

 sword, he fell dead, exclaiming," God have mercy on 

 me." At the time of his death, he was thirty-eight 

 years old. On the following day the cardinal was also 

 assassinated ; but, far from extinguishing the fire of 

 civil war, this double murder only increased the 

 hatred of the Catholics against the king. The high- 

 minded Henry of Navarre (Henry IV.) said, upon 

 hearing of the deed, " Had Guise fallen into my hands 

 I would have treated him very differently. Why," 

 added he, " did he not join with me ? We would 

 have conquered, together, all Italy." 



GUITAR, or GUITARRA ; a stringed instru- 

 ment, the body of which is of an oval-like form, and 

 the neck similar to that of a violin. The strings, 

 which are distended in parallel lines from the head 

 to the lower end, passing over the sounding hole and 

 bridge, are tuned to the C above Fiddle G, E its 

 third, G its fifth, and their octaves. The intermediate 

 intervals are produced by bringing the strings, by 

 the pressure of the fingers of the left hand, into con- 

 tact with the frets fixed on the key-board, while those 

 of the right agitate the strings and mark the measure. 

 The Spaniards, the reputed inventors of the guitar, 

 derived the name they give it, gnitarra, fromcithara, 

 the Latin denomination for almost every instrument, 



of the lute kind. The people of Spain are so fond 

 of music, and of the guitar in particular, that there 

 are few, even of the labouring class, who do not 

 solace themselves with its practice. It is with this 

 instrument that the Spanish gentlemen at night 

 serenade their mistresses ; and there is scarcely an 

 artificer in any of the cities, or principal towns, who, 

 when his work is over, does not go to some of the 

 public places, and entertain himself with his guitar. 



GULF STREAM. See Current. 



GULL (larus). These birds are well known 

 every where, being found almost universally spread 

 over the globe. They are distinguished from other 

 sea fowl by their straight bill, bending downwards to- 

 wards the point, and marked below the under 

 mandible by a triangular prominence, by their light 

 body, supported by large wings, by slender legs, 

 palmated feet, and a small hind toe. They are timid 

 and cowardly, except in defence of their young. 

 Generally seen in large flocks, the old and young 

 separate; the larger species frequent the sea, the 

 smaller, lakes or rivers. They walk with tolerable 

 ease, and swim well, but are incapable of diving. They 

 keep much on the wing, and their flight is rapid, 

 strong, and long sustained, even in heavy gales. In 

 sitting, they contract their neck, and rest on one foot. 

 They are extremely voracious, fighting with each 

 other for prey. They are patient of hunger, but 

 will feed on every kind of animal food, either dead or 

 alive, putrid or fresh. Their principal food, however, 

 is fish, of which they will follow the shoals ; they 

 catch them with great agility, darting down like an 

 arrow. They breed only once a year, laying from 

 two to four eggs. The species are exceedingly 

 numerous, and resemble each other greatly. The 

 gulls are continually fighting with each other, and 

 the strong plundering the weaker. No sooner does 

 one rise from the water, with a fish in its bill, than 

 it is immediately pursued by others, stronger than 

 itself, and the first that reaches it tears away the 

 spoil. Should, however, the latter not instantly 

 swallow the booty it has acquired, it is, in turn, pur- 

 sued by others ; and, even if it has performed this 

 process, it is oftentimes obliged to disgorge it, when 

 it is seized by one of the pursurers, before it can 

 reach the water. The facility which the gulls have 

 of vomiting their food has been taken notice of, even 

 in their captive state. Some of these birds have been 

 tamed, but, even then, they have always discovered the 

 same quarrelsome and voracious habits. When two 

 are kept together, the weaker generally becomes the 

 victim of the ill nature of the other. This genus is 

 not well understood by naturalists, and much con- 

 fusion exists as to the species. 



GUM ; one of the proximate principles of vegeta- 

 bles, distinguished by the following properties : It 

 is an insipid, inodorous, uncrystallizable solid, more 

 or less transparent, the various colours which the 

 different kinds possess being derived from mixture 

 with colouring principles while exuding in a fluid 

 state. It is insoluble in alcohol, and extremely solu- 

 ble in water ; in which properties it is the reverse of 

 resin. It differs from mucilage only in being depriv- 

 ed of the water which rendered it fluid ; and, of 

 course, when water is added, it again becomes muci- 

 lage. This mucilage is apparently not susceptible of 

 fermentation, and may be kept for a long time, as it 

 is less disposed to spontaneous changes than almost 

 any vegetable product. Its chemical composition so 

 nearly approaches sugar, that it may be converted 

 into it by means of nitric acid. Gum, as above de- 

 fined, is identical in all vegetables, and the different 

 kinds vary only in the quantity and quality of the sub- 

 stances united witii them. It exists naturally almost 

 pure in giuu Arabic and gum Senegal, and, more.or 



