G R E 



I - Crsvt IVL'cf, in C/oci or Watch-wnrt, is that wheel 

 »Lich the weiglit, fpring, or fufoe, firft moves. 



Great IVork, in Chamjlry, is the alchemical proccfs 

 whereby gold is made, or pretended to be made. 



Great Tear. See Platokic j^wr. 



GREATER 5.7r«.w. See Baron-. 



Greater Enbarmomcal dlefis . See DiE.St.'?. 



Greater Excommunication. See E.kcg.m.munication'. 



Greater Fafii. See Fasti. 



Greater Hexachord. See HEXACiroRn. 



Greater, i.t ^/a/7c, is applied to diflingiiini feveral in- 

 tervals, whereof there are two of the fame name, as greater 

 fecondjlelTtr fecond ; greater third, lefTer third ; &c. Ma- 

 jor interval is as often applied to thefe, and by fome few 

 writers they are called great intervals. Tlie femitone or dif- 

 ference between theii-rra/crand the /(j^v intervals of the fame 

 namei, are not all equal, but of two different magnitudes, 

 TOi. the femitone minor (i-? = 36S +/+ 3 m), which 

 occurs between the thirds and the fixths major and minor, 

 and the iemitone mcdius ( f-| = 47 j; +/+ 4 m), which 

 occurs between the feconds, fourths, fifths, and fevenths, 

 majar and minor : the diiierence of thefe fcmitones being the 

 major comma l^ = iii;-|-m. 



GREATHAM Fleet, \\\ Geography, ■h.t'wcx of Eng- 

 land, which rifes in the county of Durham, and runs 

 into the German fea, 5 miles S. of Hartlepool. N. lat. 54^ 



43'- 



GREATMAN's Bay, a bay of Ireland, on the N. coaft 

 of Galway bay ; i\f. miles N. from S. Arran ifjes. 



GREAVES, John', in Biography, was born at Colmore, 

 near Alresford, in Hampfhire, in the year 1602. He was 

 educated in the claffics, and in the other eleraentary parts of 

 learning by his father, who was reClor of the place, and the 

 mofl. celebrated fchool-mafter in that country. When he was 

 fifteen he was fent to Baliol college, Oxford, where heap- 

 plied himfelf with great affiduity to the ftudirs of the place, 

 and took his firft degree in the year 162 1. Three years after 

 tliis he itood candidate for a fellowftiip of Merton college, 

 when he was the hrll on the lift of five who were then elcAed. 

 In 162S he took the degree of M. A., and more particularly 

 direfted his attention to the ftudy of the mathematics and 

 oriental learning, and becam.e the friend of the moil eminent 

 fcliolars in the univerfity, among whom were Mr. Brigy;s, 

 Savilian profefTor of aftronomy, and Mr. peter Turner, pro- 

 feifor of geometry in Grelham college, London. Had he 

 wanted any motive to induce h.i'n to purfue his lludies with 

 vigour, the example of hiscontemporarieswonldhavefurnifhed 

 that motive. Mr. Greaves read over all the writings of the 

 moll; celebrated mathematicians of that and the preceding 

 r^ge, and he made Iiinifelf familiar with the ancient Greek, 

 Arabian, and Periian authors. In the year 1630, upon the 

 refignation of Mr. Turner, he was elefted profeffor ot geo- 

 metry at Grefliam college, in confequence of the higii repu- 

 tation which he fuftained in the univerfity. At this period 

 he was introduced to archbifliop Laud, the chancellor of the 

 univerfity of Oxford, from whom he received Icveral marks 

 of favour. Soon after this, Mr. Greaves refolved to travel 

 for improvement, and in 1635 we find him in Holland, at- 

 tending the leclures of James Golius, profeffor of Arabic at 

 Leyden ; from thence he proceeded to Paris ; afterwards to 

 P.ome, Florence, and Padua, making exacT: obfcrvations upon 

 everythiuTdefervingof notice. Uponhis return he determined 

 to take a voyage to Egypt, a defign which met with 

 the decided approbation of the arclibifhop. His objeft in 

 litis was not only to make himfelf acquainted witli fnch rc- 

 imins of antiquity which that far-famed country poffefied as 

 might fcrve to illuftrate ancient literature, but alfo to make 



G k E 



aAronomical and geographical obfrrrations; hethcrefort fur. 

 niflied himfelf with inftruments of every kind fur the pjr. 

 p()fc, and fuch printed Greek and Arabic'books a he thou-ht 

 might be advantagcoiifly cxchangr-d for MSS. -jlt-A other ob- 

 jefts worthy of colleclion. He embarked in the river Thames 

 for Leghorn in the year 1637, accompanied by his friend 

 Mr. Edward Pococke, and proceedcJ tiril to Italy, und 

 thence to Conftantinople, where they arrived about Mi- 

 chaelmas. Here he was received with great attention by 

 lir Peter Wyche, to whom he brought out letters of retcm- 

 mcndation fr.>m arclibifhop Laud. He was immediately 

 introduced to Cyril Lucar, the Greek patriarch, who 

 afforded him much valuable adiftance in purchafin" 

 Greek MSS. The venerable patriarch promifcd to recom" 

 mend him to the monks of mount Athos, in Macedonia, 

 where, he fald, " he would have had the liberty of entering 

 all the libraries in that place, to have colledcd a catalo-ruc 

 of fuch books, as either were not printed, or elfe, bv'the 

 hcljjof fome, thefe might have been more corrcctlv fct out." 

 Thefe, by difpenfing with the anathemas which former pa- 

 triarchs had lain upon all Greek libraries to prcfer>-c the 

 books from the Latins, the patriarch propofed to have pre- 

 ft-nted to tiie arclibid.op of Canterbury-, for the better pro- 

 fccution of his grace's defigns in the edition of Greek au- 

 thors, but the death of that patriarch fruflratcd Mr. Greaves' 

 intention of vifiting the celebrated mount, and occafioned liis 

 being a fufferer in another refped ; for having procured from 

 a Greek monallery fome MSS. of the fathers, he was under 

 the necefTity of relloring them, and lofing his money to avoid 

 a greater inconvenience. Mr. Greaves, having loll his friend, 

 determined to proceed to Egypt, but before his departKre 

 he had an opportunity of Ihewing his great attention to allro- 

 nomical fcieiice : knt)wing that there would be an eclipfe of 

 the moon in the courfe of a few months, he furnifhed proper 

 perfons with convenient inllruments for obfervinrr it at Con- 

 ilantinople, Bagdad, Smyrna, and Alexandria, and gave 

 them neccliary inllrudions for the purpofe. For his conduft in 

 thisrefpect Dr. H alley paid liiin thehigheil complimcntbv fay- 

 ing that a greater iervice could not be rendered to the fcience 

 of aftronomy than by taking the phafes of the moon's eclipfcs 

 at thole places, in order to determine their longitudes, tince 

 in and near them were made all the obfcrvations by which the 

 mean motions of the fun are limited. Mr. Greaves having 

 finifhed his arrangements for tliis bufinefs, went by Rhodes 

 to Egypt, and arrived there in the month of September 

 163S. Tliis was the boundary of his intended journcv, and 

 liere an immenfe field for the exerciie of his inquilitive genius 

 opened upon his view. He omitted no opportunity of ex» 

 amining whatever the heavens, the earth, or fubtcrraneous 

 parts offered him, that might be defcrving of notice ; but 

 complains of having his ailronomical obfcrvations frequently 

 interrupted by the clouds and rain, which he found to be fre- 

 quent, efpecially in the middle of winter. But what parti- 

 cularly engaged liis attention, and employed his care, were the 



pyramids, ot which, at that time, there was no fatisfadory 

 account before the public. This tafk he undertook, and 

 towards the dole of the year 1638 he took a car.ful lurvey 

 and menfuration of them. Having gratified his curiofitv, 

 furniihed his mind with a large llock of ufcful knowledge, 

 and coUedcd fome Greek, Arabic, and Pcrfian MSS., as 

 well as ancient coins, and other varieties, he embarked at 

 Alexandria in the month of April 1659, and .-srrived at 

 Leghorn in June. He now made a fecund tour of Italy, 

 which occupied him nine months. At Florence he was re- 

 ceived with particular marks of refped by the grand-duke 

 of Tufcany, Ferdinand II., to whom he addreflcd a Latin 

 poem lent from Alexandria ; and he alfo was permitted to 



have 



