GEL 
To GELD, XK a. preter. gelded or gelt part. pafT, 
gelded or gelt ; \_geltcn. Germ,] To caftrate ; to deprive of 
tiie power of generation.— Gr/rf bull-calf and ram-lamb 
as foon as they fall. TtiJI'er. —Lord Say hath gelded the 
commonwealth, and )iiade it an eunuch. Shakefpeare. 
•—To deprive of any elfential part: 
He bears his courfe, and runs me up 
With like advantage on tlie other fide. 
Gelding th’ oppofed continent as much 
As 0/1 the other fide it takes from you. Shakefpeare, 
To deprive of any thingimmodeft, or liable to objedbion. 
—They were diligent enough to makefure work, and to 
geld it fo clearly in»fome places, that they took away the 
very manhood of it. Dryden. 
GEL'DENHAUR (Gerard), a divine and hiftorian, 
born at Nimeguen in 1482. He received his education 
firil at Deventer, and then at Louvain, where he con- 
tradled an intimacy with Erafmus. Being recommended 
to the court of Charles V. then archduke, he was for 
fome time reader and hiftorian to that prince ; but his 
inclination for a more fettled life caufed him to accept 
of the poll: of Latin fecretary and private reader to Phi¬ 
lip bifliop of Utrecht, which he held till the death of 
that prelate. In 1526 he was fent by Maximilian of 
Burgundy to Wittemberg, in order to examine the 
fchools and the Hate of religion in that country. He 
was fo much imprelfed with wliat he there faw, that he 
openly joined the lutheran party, and went to Worms, 
where he married, and undertook the education of youth. 
His friend Erafmus was fo difpleafed with his change 
of religion, that he wrote againfi: him, under the name 
of Vulturius, and complains much of his condudl: to¬ 
wards himfelf. Geldenhaur removed to Auglburg, and 
then to Marpurg, where he was firlt profellbr of hiliory, 
and afterwards of theology. He died of the plague in 
that place, in 1542. He publifiied Latin poems, orations, 
and epiflles, and alfo feveral hifiorical works, of which 
the principal are, Hiforia Batavka ; Hiforia fuce Mtatis 
Lib. VII. Germanicarum Hiflor. llhif ratio \ Deferiptio Infulce 
Batavorim ; De Viris illufiribns Inferioris Germanics ; Catalogus 
Epifeopormn TrajeB. He alfo wrote fome pieces in con. 
troveifial divinity. 
GEL'DER, y. [from^e/(^. ] One that performs the a£l; 
of caftration : 
Geld later with ^e/<fers, as many one do. 
And look of a dozen to geld away two, ^ Tujfer, 
GEL'DER-ROSE, y [A rofe brought from Guelder- 
land.'^ In botany. See Viburnum. 
GEL'DING,y [from ] Any animal caftrated, 
particularly an horfe. See the article Hors e.^—T hough 
naturally'there be more males of horfes, bulls, or rams, 
than females ; yet artificially, that is, by making 
oxen, and w'ethers, there are fewer. Graunt. 
GEL'ENAU, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Upper Saxony, and circle of Erzgeburg: five miles 
weft-north-wefi: of Greiffenftein. 
GEL'ID, adj. [ge/n/ws, Lat.] Ektremely cold : 
From the deep ooze and gelid cavern rous'd. 
They flounce./ Thomfon. 
GELID'ITY, y. [fromge/z'i/.] Extreme cold. 
GEL'IDNESS, y. from gelid. Extreme cold. 
GELTLOTH, a city of Paleltine, belonging to the 
tribe of Benjamin; fituated upon the fouthern boundary 
of that province. Jofli. xviii. 17. 
GELE'NIUS (Sigifmund), born of a good family at 
Prague, about the year 1498. Erafmus, conceiving an 
efteem for him at Bafil, recommended him to John Fro- 
benius as a correiTor of his prefs'; which laborious office 
he accepted, and had a great number of Hebrew, Greek, 
and Latin, books, to correfl: he alfo tranflated many 
works from the Greek-into Latin ; and publiflied a difti- 
onary in four languages, Grfeek, Latin, German, and 
GEL 291 
Sclavonian. Profitable and honourable employments 
were offered him in other places, but nothing could 
tempt him to quit liis peaceful fitualion at Bafil. He 
died in 1555. All his tranfiations are higlily effeemed. 
GELPSE, a river of France, which runs into the 
Baife at Lavardac. 
GEL'LERT (Chrifiian Furchtegott), extraordinary 
profeffbr of philofophy at Leipfic, a favourite writer of 
the Germans, and one of the rnofl effeemed of their 
poets, born in 1715, atHaynichen, near Freyberg, w'here 
Ids father was a clergyman. His poetical genius made 
its firff appearance at the early age of thirteen; but as 
it W'as obferved and foftered by no friend, Gunther, 
Neukirch, and Hanke, were the models whom he imita¬ 
ted. At the fchool of Meiflen, where he was initiated 
in the fciences, he formed a friendfhip with Gartner and 
Rabener, which continued during their lives. In 1734 
he ftudied theology at Leipfic ; and at the end of four 
years returned home and commenced preacher; but, 
being of a timid difpofition, he made no figure as an 
orator. As the natural weaknefs of his conffitution, 
fickly and hypochondriac from infancy, forbade him to 
aim at extenfive learning, he endeavoured to acquire 
only as much as might render Id'm ufeful. His firff at¬ 
tempts in poetry, called Belufigttngen des Verfandes nnd 
Witzes —Amufements of Reafon and Wit, begun in 1742, 
procured him a great deal of refpebt, on account of his 
eafy and agreeable manner of writing, as well as of the 
goodnefs of heart every where difplayed in thefe produc¬ 
tions. The bad ftate of his health, and the labour which 
liisfermons coff him, induced him to lay alide his eccle- 
fiaftical views, and to devote himfelf entirely to the 
academical inftruflion of youth. In this fituation, he 
endeavoured not only to enrich the minds of his pupils 
with ufeful knowledge, but to form their tafte, improve 
their hearts, and infpire them with fentiments of religion 
and virtue. In 1744 he took the degree of maffer of arts ; 
and next year publifiied the firff volume of his Fables, 
Ibme plays, and The Swedifh Countefs, the firff original 
German romance worthy of notice. On account of the 
infirm ftate of his health, he folicited for no public em¬ 
ployment ; but in 1751 he was appointed to the office of 
extraordinary profeffbr of philofophy, with a handfome 
falary. This he retained until his increafing indifpo- 
fition put an end to his exiftence on the 13th of Decem¬ 
ber, 1769. By the agreeable and fimple ffyle which 
Gellert employed in his writings, he contributed, in a 
great degree, to improve tafte and morals throughout 
Germany, and particularly among the higher and lower 
orders. In his fables and fpiritual fongs he has dif¬ 
played the whole force of his genius. In the former, 
lie fuccefsfully imitates La Fontaine, and fhews the fame 
delicate vein of humour, the fame livelinefs and eafe, 
united to the keeneft fatire. Gellert’s firff attempt in 
the theatrical way was his comedy of The Mendicant 
Nun, which originated from one of the tales he was tlien 
compofing. All his comedies abound with the moR 
beautiful traits and nobleff thoughts ; but they are de¬ 
ficient in the true vis comica, continued intereff: in the 
plan, and fpirit and precifion in the language. His 
cliaracters are borrowed from the circle of city life, and 
are all truly German. In 1745 he wrote The AliedH- 
onate Sifters, a piece in three a6ts, which is remarkable 
for being the firff aft’efting comedy in the German lan¬ 
guage. The Prize in the Lottery, of all Gellert’s pieces, 
was the beft received on the ftage. The Sick Wife 
is an after-piece, in one adl, in which the poet converted 
one of his tales into a drama. Gellert’s different works 
have gone through a great many editions, and have been 
tranfiated into almoft all the languages of Europe. The 
following are the German editions : i. Leben der Schwe~ 
difehet Grafinn —Life of the Swedifii Countefs, Leipfic, 
1745, 8vo. ibid. 1758. 2. Luffpiele —Comedies, ibid» 
1747, 8vo. 3. Trofgriinde Wider tin fteches Leben, ihid. 1747, 
8vo, 4. Fables and Tales, ibid. 1748} there is a Hebrew 
tranflatioa 
