G I E 
G 1 DDYHEAD'ED, adj. Without thought ov cau- 
tiou ; without fteadinel's or conihuicy.—That men are 
I’o mifaffecled, melancholy, giddyheadcdj hear the telh- 
mony of Solomon. Burton. 
And fooner may a gulling w'eather fpy'. 
By drawing forth heav’n’s fcheme defcry 
What fafliion’d hats or ruffs, or fuits, next year, 
Our giddjheaded antic youth will wear, Donne. 
GID'DYPACED, adj. Moving without regularity: 
More than light airs, and recolleffed terms, 
Of thel'e moft brifk and giddypaccd times. Skakefpcare. 
GIDE'LI, a town of Afia, in the province of Cabu- 
lillan : fifty miles fouth-eafi: of Cabiil. 
GID'EON, judge ol Ifrael in the thirteenth century 
befo.e C'hrifi:. He was the fon of Joafli, a perfon of 
^reat confideration in the tribe of Manalfeh, who lived 
in the city of Ophrah. At the time when the memo, 
rable events in Gideon’s life commenced, the Ifraelites 
diad been forfcven years opprelTed and plundered by the 
Midianites. Gideon was tlierefore commillioned to dif- 
perfe the army of the Midianitc.-, Amalekites, and their 
allies, which in immenfe nunih'TS had penetrated into 
the valley of Jezreel, with the intention of plundering 
and ravaging the country. Gideon colleiited a body of 
thirty-two thoui'and men from the tribes of Manafl'eh, 
Alher, Zebulon, and Naphtali, with Whom he advanced 
to meet the daring invaders. Gideon formed a ftrata- 
Rem calculated to throw the vaft hod of his enemies 
G I F 
561 
into inextricable confufion. He divided his chofen 
troops into three companies, furnifiiing each man with 
a trumpet, and an earthen pitcher containing a lamp or 
a torch, with directions to follow his example in the 
life of them. A little after midnight, thefe three com¬ 
panies were led towards difterent quarters of the enemy’s 
camp ; when at a concerted lignal they broke their 
pitchers, difplayed their lighted torches, founded their 
trumpets, and Ihouted at intervals, “The (word of the 
Lord and of Gideon!” This ftratagem produced an 
alarm and conllernation in the enemy’s camp, which in¬ 
volved them in complete ruin. For when, flarting out 
of their lleep, they perceived the glare of the lights 
breaking in upon them on three feveral fides, and heard 
the continued found of the trumpets, and the loud 
fliouts of the different companies, they were filled with 
amazement and horror, and conceiving themfelves fur- 
prifed by a multitude of foes, their diforder became 
irretrievable : “ And the Lord fet every man’s fword 
againfi; his fellow, even throughout the whole hofl.” 
By the terror which had feized them, they were ren¬ 
dered incapable of diftinguidling their friends from 
their enemies, and, attacking each other, a dreadful 
(laughter enfued. The remains of the mighty holt 
which efcaped the carnage of this fatal night, fled on 
all Tides; v/hen Gideon commenced his purfuit of them, 
fummoning the troops which had been dilbanded to cut 
off their retreat, and calling upon the Ephraimites, and 
the other tribes neared the feene of adlion, to join in 
completing their deffruction. Gideon was judge of 
Ifrael for forty years, during which time none of their 
enemies dared to moled them ; and he died in a'good 
old age, about the year 1236 before Chrid. Judges, vi. 
vii. viii. 
GTDI-SHEH'RI, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the 
province of Natolia : eight miles fouth of Beiihehri. 
G'IDO'LA, a town of Ruflia, in the government of 
Viborg : twenty miles north of Viborg. 
Gl'DOM, fituated in Paleffine, the place where the 
Benjaniites were purlued by the other-tribes of Ifrael 
with great daughter, two thoufand of them being dain 
there. Judges, xx. 43. 
Gl'DY, a town of France, in the department of the 
Loiret, and chief place of a canton, in the dilfritt of 
Orleans : two leagues north of Orleans. 
GlEBlCHEN'bTEIN, a town of Germany, in the 
VoL. VIIL bio. 325, 
circle of Lower Saxony, and duchy of Magdeburg .- 
one mile north of Halle. 
GIEDXULISZ'KI, a town of Samogitia : twenty- 
^ur„ miles fouth of Rofienne. 
GIEDROY'CE, a town of Lithuania, in the palati¬ 
nate of Wilna : twenty-four miles nortli-north-wed of 
Wilna, 
GIEDUN'GEN, a town of Norway, in thediocefe of 
Chriftiandadt : eighteen miles north-wed of Stavanger. 
GIEL'LUM, a town of Norw’ay,^ in the diocefe of 
Aggerhuus : fifty-three miles north of Chridiania. 
GI'EN, a town of France, and principal place of a 
didridt, in the department of the Loiret, fituated on the 
Loire, and containing about 4200 inhabitants : eleven 
leagues fouth-cad of Orleans, and feven fouth of Mon- 
targis. Lat. 47, 41. N. Ion. 20. 17. E. Ferro. 
GIEN'GEN, an imperial town of Germany, in the 
circle of Swabia, fituated on the river Brentz : its ad'elf- 
ment in the matricula of the empire is thirty-fiX flo¬ 
rins, and its tax to the imperial chamber twenty-feveii 
rix-dollars fix kruitzers: twenty miles wed of Donau- 
werr, and twenty eight north-wed of Auglburg. Lat. 
4S. 37. N. Ion. 27. 51. E. Ferro. 
GIEN'SOR, a town of Africa: ten miles fouth of 
Tripoli. 
GI'ER, a river of France, which runs into the Rhone, 
four leagues below Lyons. 
GI'ER-E'AGLE, f. [fometimes it is written jer- 
eagle.'\ A term for the geifalcon. See the article Fai— 
CO, vol. vii. p. 189.—Thefe fowls lhall not be eaten, 
the fwan and the pelican, and the gier-eagk. Lev. xi. 18. 
GIERA'CE, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Na¬ 
ples, and province of Calabria Ultra ; the fee of a bidiop, 
jud'ragan of Reggio : it contains thirteen churches and 
four monaderies. Near it are Tome fulphureous baths : 
thirty-four miles north of Reggio, and fixty-two fouth- 
fouth-wed of St. Severina. 
GIERANO'NY, a town of Lithuania, in the palati¬ 
nate of Wilna : twenty miles north-ead of Lida. 
GIES'CHENHAGEN, a town of Germany, in the 
duchy of Holdein : one mile north-wed of Segeberg. 
GIE'SIM, a town of Africa, in Nubia, between Sen- 
naar and Abyflinia : 130 miles ead-louth-ead of Sennaar. 
GIES'MANSDORF, a town of Silefia, in the princi¬ 
pality of Neid'e : three miles wed-north-wed of Neifle. 
GIES'SEN, a town of Germany, in the circle of the 
Upper Rhine, and principality of Upper Hede. It is 
drong, and defended by a good citadel and arlenal, and 
fituated in a fertile country, on the Lahn; an univerfity 
was founded here in 1603: fix miles ead of Wetzlar, 
and thirty-fix north-ead of Mentz. Lat. 30. 25. N. Ion. 
26.22.E. Ferro. 
GIE'ZIN, a town of Samogitia: twenty-two miles 
ead-(buth-ead of Rofienne. 
GIFFAUMO'NT, a town of France, in the department 
of the Marne, and chief place of a canton, in the didrict 
of Vitry-le-Franjois : four leagues fouth-ead'of Vitry. 
GIF'FEN (Hubert), or Obertus Gifanivs, an eminent 
philologid, born at Buren, in the country of Gueldres. 
He dudied at Louvain, Paris, and Orleans, at winch lalt 
he graduated in law in 1567. He then went to Italy in 
the train of the French ambaU'ador to Venice ; and af¬ 
terwards vifited Germany, where he taught pihilolbphy 
and jurifprudence at Stradnirg, Altdorf, and Ingolltadr. 
He was a protedant in his youth, but quitted that ie<ft 
for the catholic religion previoully to his being invited 
to the imperial court, where the emperor Rodolph be- 
(lowed upon him the offices of counlelior and- retereu- 
dary. Being lent on a conunillion into Bohemia, he died 
at Prague in 1604, aged about leventy. He wrote coia- 
ments upon Homer, upon Arilfotlc’s Politics and Ethic.s, 
and upon Lucretius. There are fix Letters by this au¬ 
thor in the Sylloge Epijt • V wot uni ClartJJ. He wrote alio 
Comment, de hnperatore Jujlintuno and Index Hijtor. dietum 
Romariarun. ^ ^ 
7 D GIFT OR D, 
