G R A 



population, and buildings has been particularly rapid fince inftruftion exci 

 the middle of the laR century. Under the late ^A, the nefs of his t< 

 number of inhabitants was returned at 2483, and that ot By the public 

 houfes at 41 2 ; yet thefe numbers are very incorretl, and the 

 population can fcarcely amount to lefs than 4000, nor th( 

 number of houfes be fewer than 700 Moft of the inhabit 



ants are engaged in maritime purfuits or employnients. 



A fmall manufaftory for cables and ropes is earned on here ; 



vard for fhip-building, which 

 ' - ed Cle. 



y- 



and about the year 1780, a , 

 ■ had long been difufcd, was hired by a quaker, named Cle- 

 verly, and fcvc-ral men of war and frigates, befidcs fmaller 

 vefTels, have been built here. About eighteen or twenty 

 fmacks find employment in the cod and haddock filhery ; 

 and moft of the D.itchturbot veifels lie off this town, and 

 fend their cargoes to the London markets in fmall boats. 

 Moft of the Ead and Weft Ind^a trade, and, indeed, of 

 the outward-bound ftiips in general, are fupplied with hve 

 and dead ftock at Gravefend ; and alfo with vegetables ; 

 about eighty acres of ground in the two panlhes being cul- 

 tivated for that purpofe, and for fupplying the London 

 markets with afparagus, which is remarkable for its fize and 

 fine flavour. Gravefend is fituated 22 miles E. from Lon- 

 don. Hafted's Hiftory of Kent, vol. i. 8vo. Beauties 

 of Engla-id and Wales, vol. vii. 



G R A 



excited much public attention, but the hanghti- 

 temper prevented him from being popular, 

 at large, his manners could be no obftacle 

 to the celebrity of his writings, and his reputation daily 

 increafed. Ilis works were numerous, and the fubjofts on 

 which he treated very various. His " Origines Juris 

 Civilis,'' has been ever cfteemed a claflScal performance, 

 lucid in its arrangements, and replete with folid and very 

 important learning. This was firft publiflied at Leipfic in 

 1708, and afterwards there was a more corretk edition of 

 it in 1713 ; to the latter impreffion was fubjoined a treatile 

 " De imperio Romano,'' elteemed a mafter-picce, though 

 not free from error. Graviiia undertook to eftablilh a poe- 

 tical code, for which purpole he wrote two books, entitled 

 " De la Region Poctica :" one entitled " Delia Tragedia," 

 and a treatife " De Inftitutione Poetarum." Another 

 work was printed coutriiry to his inclination ; this was his 

 " Inllitutes of Civil and Canon Law," which he intended 

 to have revifed and given in a corrected and augmented 

 form. In 1714, Gravina re-vifited his native country, 

 where he ftaid about two years and then returned to Rome. 

 He was preparing to depart for Turin, whither he had been 

 invited by the duke of Savoy, in order tliat he might take 

 the general direftion of the learned inftitutions, when he 



Gravesend, a townihip and village of America, in Long was leized with an illnefs which carried him off in 1718, in 



inand. New York, feven miles from the city, containing 

 489 inhabitants. 



GRAVIMETER. See Hydrometek. . 



GRAVINA, Do.MENico da, in Biography, who flou- 

 riftied in the fourteenth century, was a native of Gravina, 

 in the kingdom of Naples. He was by profeflion a notary, 

 but in hterature an hiftorian. He feems to have taken an 

 aftive p.irt in the civil wars which agitated his country at 

 tliat period, and on account of the fide which he efpoufed, 

 he was ftripped of all his property, and driven into exile 



the arms of his beloved pupil Metailafio, whofe poetical 

 talents he firft difcovcred and cheriflied, and whom he left 

 heir of all his property out of Calabria. Gravina was of 

 a contentious difpofiticn, exceiTive in his praife of perfons 

 whom he efteemed, and alio in his cenfure of thofe who 

 offended him ; he was arrogant, from a high opinion of 

 his own fuperiority. This created him many enemies, with 

 whom he was perpetually at war. Of his great learning 

 there can be no doubt ; but with refpett to his poetical ta- 

 lents, it has been remarked, that he was more fuccefsful as 



with his wife and children. He wrote a hiftory of Naples a legiflator than as a pra£tifer in the art ; for his five tra- 

 in the Latin language, and likcvvife a hiftory of the tranf- gedies written on the model of the ancients were not favour- 

 aftions in that part of Italy during his own times, from 1330 ably received by the public, and the author's angry expof- 

 to l''i;o. A fragment of this work only is in exiftence, tulatlfcn, proving that they ought to have been applauded 

 the beffinninf and end being loft ; it is, however, reckoned as ufual, was totally inefficacious. Moreri. 



a valuable 'document for the fidelity of the narration, 

 and is to be found in Muratori's colleftion of Italian hif- 



torians. _ 



GuA viN A, John 'Vincent, was born in 1 664 at Rogiana, 

 a caft'ie in Calabria. He enjoyed all the advantages of a 

 very liberal education, and became well verfed in the learned 

 languages ; geometry, phyfics, hiftory, and antiquities. 

 He alfo made himfelf acquainted with the principles of 

 theology. Having thus attained to a general knowledge 

 of the learning of the times, he went to Naples to iludy 

 the civil and canon law. After this he pafted to Rome, 

 and lived with Paul Coardo of Turin. He was one of 

 the original founders of the academy of Arcadi, and had graving 

 the charge of drawing up their laws in the ftyle of the '^ ■ - 

 Roman tables. He arrogated to himfelf the merit of hav- 

 ing devifed thefe laws, a circumftance which involved him 

 in a quarrel with the other members, particularly with 

 Crefcembini, the founder of the fociety, fo that thefe two 

 learned men were for fevcral years at the head of two 

 faftions which divided the body. In 1698, he was nomi- 

 nated profeffor of civil law at the coUege of Sapienza, and, 

 in five years after, he fuccccded to the chair of the canon- 

 law. His method of inftruclion was excellent; he avoided 



Gravina, in Geography, a town of Naples, in the pro- 

 vince of Bari, the fee of a biftiop, fufTragan of Acerenza, 

 24 miles S. of Trani. 



Gravina's IJland!, a range of iflands in the N. Pacific 

 ocean, each from 20 to 50 miles in circumference, inter- 

 fperfed with fome iflets, llrctching N. W. to S. E. about 

 40 m:les, between the Juke of Clarence's ftrait and the 

 canal of Revilla Gigedo. N. hit. 54 52' to 55'' 27'. E. 

 long. 228" 24' to 229 5'. 



GRAVING, the aft or art of cutting lines, figures* 

 and other dt-figns, on metals ; more properly called cn- 

 ' ■ h fee. 



Graving, in the Sea Language, is the bringing a fhip 

 a-ground, and then burning uif withfuize, reed, or broom, 

 all the filth and foulnefs tliat ftick to her bottom without 

 board, in order to pay her anew. See Brooming and 

 Careening. 



GK.\vi>CG-</or/, or Dry Docli, is a place from which the 

 water can be let out or pumped, after Ihips and boats are 

 floated into it to be cleaned or repaired ; fometimcs, graving- 

 docks are above the level of the water, and boats are dragged 

 upon inclined planes into the fame. By the fides of tidal 



trifling verbal difputes, and mere fcholailic fpeculations, and rivers or harbours thefe are con ftnidled' with ftrong clofe 



entered into the fpirit of the laws, illuftrating their theory gates meeting in an angle to fhut out the tide ; which gates 



by obfervations drawn from ancient writers, and by a criti- are furnifhed with a fmall fluice or valve for emptying or 



clfm founded on his exteafive erudition. This mode of filhng the dock^ when a veffel has entered at high water, 



6 or 



