G I R 



G I R 



produced a plant any wlierc but in the garden of the late 

 French king. 



OIRA, in Geography, a town of Perfia, in the province 

 of Ma/anderan ; ;8 milts S. of Sari. 



GiHA, in yli::'ifnt Geography, a metropolis of Libya in- 

 terior, fcated on the river Gir. Ptol. Sec GiR. 



GIRAFFE, in Zoology. See Ca.mki.oi'.akd.^hs. 



GIR-\GLIA, in Geography, a fmall ifland nc;ir the N. 

 coafl of Corfica; 23 miles N. of Baftia. N. lat. 43" i'. 

 E loijij. f) ^y'. 



GIR.-\LD1, Gior.io Grf.gorio, in Riogmhhy, one of 

 ihc moil l.-arned men of his time, was born at Ferrara in 

 *:ie yjar 14S9. He purfueJ his lliidies at his native place, 

 uiid having attained to confidcrnblc eminence in the lan- 

 guages, he was chofi-n by the cotritefs Rangone as precep- 

 tor to her fc.T Herciibs, afterwards a cardinal. H« KC- 

 copapanicd the countifs to Rome during the pontificate of 

 Leo X , and had apartments affigned hiin at the Vatican. 

 Ho appears to have been employed in the inftruction of 

 other young perfons in polite literature, and continued at 

 Rome during the two next pontificates. He enjoyed but a 

 fi.-ndcr portion of health, and at the fack of Rome he loil 

 ill his property, and even his books. Tills was in the year 

 1527, when, having loll his friend and patron the cardinal Ran- 

 gone, he was obliged to leave the capital. In his dillref^;, 

 which was very T-vere, he wrnt to Bologna, and thence to 

 M;rando:a, where he met with a very kind friend in Gian- 

 francefco Pico. This patron was murdered in 1533. and 

 Giraldi with great difiicully efcaped to Ferrara with his 

 life. His poverty was now extreme, but he was not with- 

 out friendi, by whofe liberality, cfpecially that of the 

 duchefs Renata, he was enabled to lay up a ilore for tlie 

 future. He died, after a life of muciv torture, in the year 

 1552. So varied was his life, and fevcre l\is affliftions, 

 that towards the clofe of life he complained that he had al- 

 ways to combat againtl three enemies. Nature, Fortune, 

 and Injuftice. His great work was entitled " Syntagma de 

 Diis Gentium." This is the liril treatife in which mytho- 

 logy is difcuffed in a truly learned manner, and it is a trea- 

 tife which exhibits the vafl extent of the author's reading, 

 and for which the learned world is under very great obligations. 

 He was author of feveral otlier trcatifes, " On the Mui'es ;' 

 " Tlie life of Hercules ;" " Explications of the Pythago- 

 rical Symbols," and other ancient enigmas : " A Treatife 

 of Years and Months, with Greek and Latin Calendars, 

 flnd thirty Dialogues on fubjecls of Erudition." He gave 

 " A Hiftoi7 of the Greek aiid Latin Poets," and of " The 

 Poets of his own Time." He was a confiderable Latin 

 poet, and it is thought a fcnle of his own misfortunes in- 

 duced him to write two fmall pieces againft ingratitude, en- 

 titled " Progymnafmata adverfut Ktteras et litteratos." 

 Mbreri. 



GIRALDUS, Silvester, Cambrek.sis, one of the 

 moft learned and eloquent divines of his time, wa.s born 

 near Pembroke, in South Wales, 1 145. Among his nume- 

 rous works that have been preferved, printed and manu- 

 fcript, we fliall here only advert to an extraordinary paffage 

 relative to mufJc, in his " Cambriie Defcriptio, cap. XHI." 

 which has been lately quoted by mufical writers, and on 

 which great ilrefs has been laid by Eximeno (Dubbio fopra il 

 faggio fond. prat, di contrap. di P. ^tartini) and by Mr. 

 tld. .lones, Muf. Relics of the WelHi Bards. 



After all the enquiries that we have made concerning the 

 origin and antiquity of counterpoint, or mufic in parts, 

 tie paJTage to which we alihde furprifed us extremely. 

 Many ccclefiiftieal hiftorians tell us that the organ was firfl: 

 adijutted mta the church at Rjome by pope Vitalian,^ 666, 



the fame pontiff who two years after fent fuigei's into Kent* 

 to finidi the work which Auflin, tiie firft Roman midionary, 

 had begun. In 6S0, according to Bt>de, John, the prs- 

 centor of Sf, Peter's in Rome, was fent over by pope Aga- 

 tho to inftrucl the monks cf Weremouth in t?ie manner of 

 performing the ritual, who op -ned fchools there and in otlier 

 places of the kingdom of Northumberland for teaching 

 niufic. 



This ni:iv, perhaps, reconcile to probability fome part of 

 the following account, which Giraldus Cambrenfis gives of 

 the pcciJiar manner of fmging that v.-as praftifed bv the 

 Wellh, and the iiiiiabitants of the north of England, about 

 the end of the tv/elfth century. 



" The Britons," fays he, " do not fing in unifon, like 

 the inhabitants of other countries ; but ui many different 

 parts. So that when a company of lingers among the com- 

 mon people meets to fnig, as is ufual in this country, 

 as many diilerent parts are heard as there are performers, 

 who all at length unite in conioiiance, with organic fweet- 

 nefs. In the northern parts of Great Britain, beyond tlie 

 Humber, on the borders of Yorkthire, the inhabitants uil- 

 the fame kind of fymphonious harmony ; except that tliev 

 only fing in two parts, the one murmuiing in the bafe, and 

 tlie other v.'arbling in the acute or treble. Nor do thefe tv.o 

 nations pradife this kind of fmgitig fo much by art as habit, 

 v.-hich has rendered it fo natural to tiiem, that neitiier in 

 Wales, where they fmg in many parts, nor in the north of 

 England, where they fing in two part?, is a limple melod)' 

 ever well fung. And, V\-hat iS flill more wonderful, their 

 children, as foon as they attempt ufuig their voices, fmg in 

 the fame manner. But as not all tiie Engliih fmg in this 

 manner, but thofe only of the north, I believe they had 

 this art at firft, like their language, from the Danes and 

 Norwegians, who ufed frequently to invade and to occupy, 

 for a long time together, thofe parts of the iilaud." 



This extraordinary palTage i-cquircs a corr.ment. And 

 firfl, it may be neceflary, before we reafon upon the circum- 

 flances it contains, to be certain of their authenticity. Gi- 

 raldus Cambrenfis is indeed an author who lias been often 

 fuppofed inaccurate and fabulous; and the glaring improbabili- 

 ties in the above account, with the manitell ignorance of the 

 fubiecf in queflion, by no means contribute to augment his 

 credibility. For whoever is acquainted with the laws of 

 counterpoint, or with the firll difhculties attending the 

 practice of finging in parts, can have no exalted idea of the 

 harmony of an untaught crowd, turla canentium, or fup- 

 pofe it to be much better than the diffonant pasans of a 

 good-humoured mob ; in which the parts would be as vari- 

 ous as tlie pitch of voices of which their chorus was com- 

 pofed. But how all thefe united at lad in the confonance 

 of organic melody, and the foft fwcetnefs of B mollis, will 

 long remain an impenetrable lecret : 



" As true no meaning puzzles more than wh." 



With refpcft to what he afferts of the people in Northum- 

 berland finging in two parts, it is more reoincileable to 

 probability, from the circumftances jull mentioned, of the 

 cultivation of mufic in that part of the world imder Roman 

 mailers, who may probably have firil brought over the art 

 of difcant, or double finging, which the newly invented 

 organ had fuggefled, by the facility it afforded of founding 

 two or more notes at a time ; which art, when praftifed by 

 voices, was theuce called orgar.um, crganizare. But as to 

 what Giraldus lavs of children naturally finging in this 

 manner as foon as they were out of the cradle, the reader 

 will afford it what degree of weight he pleafc6_; but for 



VIS 



