G L O 



all the advantages of it, vvliile the liglil 'in this part is not of- 

 fenlive to the eyes, as it naturally would have been if carried 

 before the head. The creature can, upon occafion, cover 

 this light, fo as not to be known, or purfned by it, by- 

 its enemies. Thomas Barthol. de Luce Anim. lib. ii. 

 cap. 12. 



This infecl is of the beetle kind, of a brown and duflcy 

 colour. It has hard cafe or (hell wings, as the other beetles 

 iiave, and when thefe are expanded, thei-e appear a pair of 

 verv lai'ffc mciubranous ones ; its head is covered with a fort 

 of (hield or broad-ln-immcd hat ,; under this hat arc placed the 

 eyes, which are black and large, and are moveable, fo that the 

 creature can, upon occal'.on, thrull them forward : it has two 

 hairy anteunx, and iti •legs are like tl-.ofe of the common fly, 

 hard, {'lelly, and hairy. Its eyes afford an elegant objeft for the 

 ir.icrofcope, being compofcd of an infinite number of leufcs, 

 asthofe of the libclhc.and other infetls. Aldrovand. de 

 Iflfedl. lib. i. cap. 8. 



GLOXINIA, in Botany, named by the late M. L'He- 

 vitier in honour of Dr. Benjamin Peter Gloxiu, a native of 

 Colmar, in whofe inaugural diti'ertatiou, publidied at Straf- 

 burg in 1785, are given the- charadlers of i!/rf/-/)'/;/<2 and fome 

 nrin-hljouring genera, among which the plant now under 

 our confideration is comprehended. The fame work alfo 

 contains the firft defcription and iigure of the Salvia Lonii- 

 roidi-s, imnecefiarily changed by L'Heritier afterwards to 

 S.formofa ; and one of Cyperus agyptiaciu, whicli proved the 

 Schoeniis nmcraiatus of Linnaeus. L'Herit. Stirp. Nov. 149. 

 Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 2. 331. Willd. Sp. PL v. 3. 229. Mart. 

 Mill. Ditt. V. 2. Clafs and order, Didynanun Angiofpcnina. 

 Nat. Ord. Perfonatcc, lAna. Campanulacca, Jul!.? or rather a 

 new order, dillinguiflied by lateral, not marginal, recepta- 

 cles of the feeds. JiiJ". 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth fuperior, of five oblong, fpread- 

 ing, neai-ly equal leaves. Cor. of one petal, obliquely bell- 

 (luipcd ; gibbous at the bafe ; its border in five rounded ob- 

 t-id'e lobes, the four uppermoft recurved, the lower one pro- 

 minent, concave and inflexed. Slam. Filaments four, much 

 fliorter than the corolla, with the rudiment of a fifth ; in- 

 ferted into the receptacle, connefted with the bafe of the 

 corolla, incurved, downy, converging laterally in the upper 

 part, two of them rather the (hortell ; anthers ovate, peltate, 

 two-celled, cohering together, their lobes diverging. Pifi. 

 Germen inferior, turbinate, furrowed ; ftylc cylindrical, as 

 long as the ilamens ; fligma capitate. Peric. Capfule imper- 

 feftlv two-celled, with two valves, and two lateral divided 

 receptacles. Surds numerous. 



Efl" Ch. Calyx fuperior, of five leaves. Corolla bell-fliaped, 

 with an oblique irregular border. Filaments, with the 

 rudiment of a fifth, inferted into the receptacle. Capfule 

 with many feeds, inferted into lateral receptacles. 



l.G.macuIdla. Curt. Mag. t. 1 191. (Martvnia pcrennis ; 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 862. Hort. Chff. t. 18. Ehret. Pict. t 9. f. 2. 



Mart. Mill. Dirt. v. 3 Native of South America ; the ftcds 



having been fent from Carthagena by Mr. Robert Millar, be- 

 fore 1739- It requires with us the confi:ant heat of a bark 

 ftove, by means of which it flowers late in autumn. It is 

 propagated abundantly by the little tuberous roots, which 

 are perennial. The Jlem is herbaceous, fimple, leafy, round, 

 very fmooth, fpotted with purple. Leaves large, oppofite, re- 

 curved, ftalked, broad-ovate, acute, ferrated, fmooth and 

 (hining, pale at the back, with prominent Teins. Flowers 

 axillary from the diminifhed leaves, or brafteas, at the upper 

 part of the ilem., folitary, ftalked, large, drooping, of a 

 line blue with a dark fpot at the bottom within. Their fcent 

 is very ptculiar, rcfembling mint, which no writer feems to 

 Jiave noticed. I 



G L U 



■GI>UBOKAIA, \u Geography, A lownoi RufTia, in the 

 government of Kolyvan ; 72 miles E. of Semipolatnoi. 



GLUCHOV, or Gr.UKiloi', a town and dillrift of No- 

 vogorod tievcrfkoi, fituateJ on the river Yefma, falling inta 

 the Seim ; 40 miles E.S.E. of Novogorod Severflcoi. 



GLUCK, le Chevalier Cjini.sToriiEU, in Biography, a mu- 

 fical compofer of great fire and originality, who, durmg the laft 

 30 or 40 years of the preceding century, acquired great re- 

 nown, but chiefly in Franc;-, by a fpetics of compofition, 

 congenial to the national t.ifte, which Lulli and Rameau had 

 formed, and in whicli the Ihort and llmple airs required no 

 great abilities in the fingers ; but the dramas beini'- written 

 in the language of the country, and the poet being regarded 

 as a mucli more important p-..rlonage than the compofer of 

 the mufic, the feveral charafters required great aftors lather 

 than great fingers. 



This eminent compofer was born in the Palatinate, of a poor 

 family, aVjout the year 17 16. His fatlior, during the infan- 

 cy of his fon, removed into Bohemia, where he died, leaving 

 his offspring in early youth, without any provifion, fo that 

 his education was totally neglected ; but nature had given 

 hira an inflinftive love for mufic, which is taught to all chil- 

 dren, with reading and writing, in the Boliemian fchools, whe- 

 ther of charity or iupcrior foundations, in all the towns and 

 villages ; in churches and in the ftreets. men, women, and 

 children fing in parts, and play upon fome inftrument, and often 

 on many inilruments. This was the cafe Vi-ith the young 

 Chriftopher, who travelled about from town to town, fup- 

 porting liimfelf by his talents till he had worked his way to 

 Vienna, where he met with a nobleman who became liis pa- 

 tron, took him into his fervice, carried him into Italy, where 

 he procured him lelTons in counterpoint, at Naples, by which 

 he profited fo well, that before he left Italy he compofed fe- 

 veral dramas for difierent theatres, which acquired him repu.« 

 t-ation fufficient to be recommended to lord Middlefex as a 

 compoler to our lyric theatre in the Haymarket, then under 

 his lordfliip's direction. But, unluckily, arrivmgin England 

 in 1745, after his firft opera of " Artamene" had been per- 

 formed ten nights, in which the famous air " Rafferena il 

 mefto ciglio," fung by Monticclli, was conftantly en- 

 cored, the rebellion broke out, and the great Opera-houfe wa» 

 fliut up, on account of the popular prejudice againft the per- 

 formers, whc, being foreigners, were chiefly Roman Catho- 

 1 ics. Nur was the Opera-houfe allowed to be opened agaiii, 

 till .January yth, 1746, when "la Caduta de' Giganti," fet 

 by Gluck, v.as performed before the duke of Cumberland, in 

 compliment to whom the -whole was written and compofed. 

 The fingers were Monticelli, Jozzi, aud Ciacchi ; with fig- 

 nora In.er, Pompcati, afterwards better known by the name 

 of madarae Cornelie, and Frafi. The firft woman, Imer, 

 never lurpafied mediocrity in voice, taftc, or aftion ; and the 

 Pompeati, though nominally ftcond woman, had fuch a 

 mafculine and violent manner of finging, that few female 

 fymptonis were perccjtible. The new dances by Auretti, 

 and the charming Violctta, afterwards Mrs. Garrick, were 

 much more applauded than the foiigs, which, however, for the 

 time, hadconfiderable m< rit. The firft air in G. minor is cf 

 an original caft. but monotonous. The fecond air has genius 

 and defign in it. I'hen a duet, in wliich he hazarded many 

 new paflages and effects. The following air, for Monticelh, 

 is very original in fymphony and accompaniments which a 

 little difturbed the voice-part in jjcrformance, we well re- 

 member, and Monticelli called it aria tedefea. His con- 

 temporaries in Italy, at this time, fecmed too much filed 

 down ; and he wanted the file, which, when ufed afterivards 

 in that country, made him one of the greatcft compofers-of 

 his time. The next air printed, is m a very peculiar inea- 



fitre, 



1 



