308 ^ GEM 
edited, and was tranflated into I'rench and Eng,lift. It 
is an entertaining performance, but of dubious authori¬ 
ty, abounding with fabulous narrations. He is, how¬ 
ever, frequently quoted, and his book is confidered as 
valuable for the objects of curicfity it points out, and the 
diredtion it gives for fate and ufeful travelling. 
GEMELLIP'AROUS, adj. ^gcmelli pario, Lat.] 
Bearing twins. 
GE'MENT, \_gemo, Lat. to lament.] Lamenting, 
groaning. Not much vfed. Cole. 
GEMERI'AH,yi [Heb. completion.] Aman’sname. 
GEM'ERIE, y'. [frorn gcw.] A cabiitet, a place in 
which jewels are kept. Notiifed. Cole. 
GEMESI'E, a Ifmig fort on the river St. John, in 
North America, which was taken by the Englift in 1674. 
TbGEM'INATE, v.a. \_gcmino, Lat.] To double. 
GEMINA'TION, f. [from gemmate .1 Repetition; 
reduplication.—Be not afraid of them that kill the bo¬ 
dy; tear him, which, after he hath killed, hath power 
to caft into hell : yea, I fay unto you, with a gemination, 
which the prefent controverly ftews not to have been 
cautelefs, fear him. Boyle. 
GEMIN'GEN, a town of Germany, in the palatinate 
of the Rhine : fix miles north-weft of Heilbronn. 
GEM'INI, in aftronomy, a conftellation of the nor¬ 
thern hemifphere, one of the forty-eight old conftella- 
tions, and the third in order of the zodiacal figns, Aries, 
Taurus, Gemini, &c. Tliis conllellation is denoted by 
two children, or twins, and is dillinguiftied by this mark, 
n, in almanacs and books of aftronomy. This conftel¬ 
lation was anciently depicted by a couple of young kids, 
by the Egyptians and eaftern nations, as denoting that 
part of the fpring when thefc animals bring forth ; but 
the Greeks altered them to two children, which fome of 
them make to be Caftor and Polltix, fome Hercules and 
Apollo, and others Triptolemus and Jafon; but the 
Arabians afterwards changed the figures into two pea¬ 
cocks, their religion not allowing them to paint or draw 
any human figure. Sir Ifaac Newton thinks the figures 
had fome reference to the Argonautic expedition. I'he 
ancients attributed to every fign of the zodiac one of the 
principal deities for its tutelary power. Plicebus had 
tlie care of Gemini, and hence the argument of aftrolo- 
gers about the agreement of the fun and this conftella¬ 
tion. The ftars inrihe fign Gemini are, in Ptolomy’s 
catalogue 25, in Tycho’s 25, in Hevelius’s 38, and in 
the Britannic catalogue 85. 
GEMINIA'NI (francis), an eminent mufician, born 
at Lucca about 1680. He ftudied the theory of mufic 
under Aleft'andro Scarlatti, and tJte practice of the vio¬ 
lin under I.unati, I'urnamedll Gobbo, and finally under 
Corelli. The reputation he obtained caufed hir.i for a 
time to be placed at the head of the orcheftraat Naples. 
In 1714 he came to England, where he excited great ad¬ 
miration by his performances, and was patronifed by 
many of the nobility. His particular patron was baron 
Kilmanfegge, favourite of George I. to whom he dedi¬ 
cated his firft wofkin 1716, con.fifting of tv vIve folos for 
the violin. '1 hefe were allowed to be more mafterly 
and elaborate titan thofe of Corelli, and gave a high 
idea of his mufical talents. He afterwards formed twelv-e 
folos of Corelli, and fix of his I'onatas, into concertos. 
In 1732 he pubiifted his fix firit concertos, entitled 
Opera Seconda ; and loon after. Opera Terza, a fecond let 
of concertos ; which works placed him at tlie head of all 
living mafters in that kind of cornpofition. His fecond 
fet of folos, commonly called his French Solos, appeared 
in 1739; “but, (lays Dr. Burney,) they were more 
admired than played his third fet, in 1741, “ was fo 
laboured, ditficuit, and lantaftical, as never tobe played, 
in eitlier public place,or piivate concert.” In 1742 he 
printed a, liong-proimletl W'ork, entitled Guida Arnwnica, 0 
Diuonario Arnonico, or a fure Guide to Harmony und Mo¬ 
dulation, &c, of which the laulical critic abovc-men- 
G E M 
tioned fays, that “ it was a kind of mill, in which good 
mufic was .to be ground with little trouble and no ge¬ 
nius.” He fpeaks alfo with little refpect of Geminiani’s 
next work, a Treatife on Good Tafte, and Rules for 
playing in Good Tafte ; but he mentions as a very ufe¬ 
ful performance, his Art of Playing on the Violin, 
1748. About 1736 he publiftied a very fingular compo- 
fition, called The Enchanted Foreft, in which he endea¬ 
voured to reprefent by mere found all the events of the 
fine epifode in the thirteenth canto of Taffb’s Jerufalem. 
His other works were two books of Harpfichord Pieces, 
and two books on the Art of Accompaniment, both 
mentioned as too difficult for pradlice. In i7'6i he paid 
a vilit to his friend and pupil Dubourg, in Dublin, where 
he was mafter of the royal band. The lofs of an ela¬ 
borate treatife on mufic in that city, faid to have been 
ftolen from his chamber, is fuppofed to have haftened 
his death, which took place in Septeml^er, 1762. Dr. 
Burney fums up his charad^er by faying, that “ he was 
a great mafter of harmony, and very ufeful to our coun¬ 
try in his day ; but tirough he had more vaiiety of mo¬ 
dulation, and more fkill in diverfifying his parts, than 
Corelli, yet his melody was inferior, and there is a con— 
fufion in the effeci: of the whole, which gives to each of 
his compofitions the effeCl of a rhapfody, or extempora- 
neousllight, rather tJian a polilhed and regular produc¬ 
tion.” He allows, however, that his lixth concerto of 
the fecond let is the molt perfect and plealing compoli- 
tion of the kind within his knowledge. 
GEM'INOUS, ad]. [gewzVzw, Lat.] Double.—Chrif- 
tians have baptized thefe geminous births, and double 
connafcencies, with feveral names, as conceiving)' in them 
a diftindtion of fouls. Brown. 
GE'MIST (George), lurnamed Pletho, an eminent 
Greek philofopher, born at Conftantinople in 1390. He 
appears to have relided principally in the Peloponnefus, 
where he acquired a high character for learning, pru¬ 
dence, and exemplary manners. He was a zealous ad¬ 
vocate for Platonilm, as it was modelled in the Alex¬ 
andrian fchools, and maintained a violent controverly 
with the Ariftotelians. He was alfo a ftrenuousdefender 
of the Greek church againft the Latins, and obtained fo 
high, a reputation in his own communion, that the moft 
learned men in it were accultomed to confult him on the 
points in debate between them and their adverfaries. 
Gemilt loft no opportunity of expatiating on the luperior 
c.xcellence of his favourite lyftem, and made many con¬ 
verts from among the literary charadters of that age ; 
and had the honour of ranking the illuftrious Cofmo de 
Medici in the lift of his difciples. By his influence with 
that patron of fcience and literature, the foundation of 
a Platonic academy was laid at Florence; and he was 
the firft prelident of that inftitution. He died at the 
advanced age of one hundred years, but at what place is 
not known. He was tlie autlior of numerous works 
written in the Greek language, which afford ample evi¬ 
dence of his profound and various erudition, and of his 
intimate knowledge ot the Alexandrian pldlofophy. 
The principal ol them are, De Gejlis Gracorumpoji Pugnam 
ad Mantineam, duobus Libns digrjia, firft printed m the ori¬ 
ginal by Aldus, togetiier vrith Xenoption and Herodian, 
1303, folio, and wit!, a Latin verlion by Mark Ant. 
Antimaciius, 1340 ; De Virtulibus Libelliis, firft pubhlhcd 
in Greek and Latin, 1532, 8vo. and afterw'ards in various 
forms, ,.ad with the comments of difierent annotators; 
De Rebus Peloponntjiajis conjlituendis Orationes dua, printed 
by Plc^ntin in Greek and Latin, 1373, folio, with an Ap¬ 
pendix, containing a defcriptioii oi all the places in the 
Pelopo.nnefus, their longitudes and latitudes, taken from 
Ptolemy, and corretSted by the author ; De Platonicse et 
Arijlotelicie PhilofophiaDifferentia, printed at Paris in Greek 
in 1341,- 8vo. and with a Latin verlion at Bafil, in 1374, 
410. and In Oracula magica Zoroajiris Commentarii, firft 
printed in Greek and Latin at Paris, in 1338, 8vo. in 
which 
