664 G I L 
fician, and gave him a penficn ; and king James conti¬ 
nued him in the fame refpeftable pofb. He died in 1603, 
and was buried at Colcltefier. Dr. Gilbert has perpe¬ 
tuated his name by a work in natural philofophy, which 
afioVds one ot tlic earlieft examples of the method of 
treating inch futjjeifs on the bads of experimental en¬ 
quiry. 1 his was Ins book De Magnde, viagneticifquc Cor- 
.poriius,^ dc magjw MagneteTellurc, Phyjiologia nova, I.ond. 
1600, folio. T his performance, the compofition of whicJt 
had occupied many years of his life, is the firft complete 
lydent ot magnetifm. This work has been much com¬ 
mended; an.d lord Bacon inllances it as a very merito¬ 
rious attempt to found a philofophical theory tij'on ex¬ 
periment, according to his own principles. It may be 
added, that the celebrated Halley afterwards applied 
(jilberi’s liypotliefis of a great internal magnet in the 
eartir, to exjdain the variation and dipping of the needle. 
Di‘. Gilbert’s attention to the nautical art was farther 
evinced by his inv'ention of two very ingenious inlfru- 
ments for afcertaining the latitude of any place without 
ailillance from tire iieavenly l»odies. Long after his death 
a Work ot Iris was pubirdred irom two manufciipt copies 
in tire library ot dr Wiliiani Bolwell, entitled De Mundo 
*>ojh-oJhblunari Phihifophia nova, Amft. 1631, ato, 
G1 L'BLRT (Jetferay', lord cliief baron), born in 1674. 
J.Ie was appointed one of the judges of the king’s bench 
in Ireland in fyij ; and, before the end of that year, was 
pionioted to tJie rank of cliief baron of the exchequer, 
wliicli he held tijl the early part of tiie year 1722, wlien 
he was called to England. Duritig the time that he pre- 
fided in the court ot exchequer in Ireland, he was in¬ 
volved in a very ardtiotis contefi refpeiSting the right of 
app'eal to the Britilh houfe of lords in equity caufes, in 
which he incurred the cenfure of the houfe of lords in 
ircland, for “betraying the ancient undoubted rights 
and jirivileges ot that houle;’’ and, with his brother 
barons, he w as ordered into the cullody of tlie uther of 
tne black rod. d he ground of this difpute was com¬ 
pletely done away by the adt of the 23d of Geo. III. 
which declares, that “ tlie right claimed by the people 
ot Ireland to have all actions and fiiits at law or in equity 
which may be inliituted in that kingdom, decided in his 
majelry’s courts th.crein finally, and without appeal from 
thence, Ihali be and is thereby e/fabliflied and afcertained 
for ever.’’ 
In May 1722, fir Jefferay Gilbert took his feat as one 
•of the barons ot the exchequer in England, in the room 
ot iir Janies IMontague. On the 7th of January 1724, 
he vvas made one of the coinmillioners of the great teal, 
together with Iir Jofepih Jekyll and Iir Robert Raymond: 
tlie teal continued in comniillion till the ill of June in 
the year lucceeding, wiien fir Peter King was coiiltituted 
lord keeper ; and, on tiie .fame day, Iir Jetferay became, 
on tlie appointment of iir Robert Eyre to the chief juf- 
ticelliip ot the common pleas, lord chief baron, wliich 
office he tilled during nearly one year and a half, wdien 
he died at Batii. '1 has k appears that lie fat as judge 
in dilferent courts for above feven years in Ireland, and 
•fiv-e in England. His moll valuable prodiuilion left to 
polleriTy is “Thc.Liw ol Evidence,” an iinjiroved edi¬ 
tion ot w hich w; s publilhed by Mr. Capcl Lofft, in 
2 vols. 8vo. 1791. 
GIL'BER'l’s ISLAND, an illand near the fouth- 
wetl coatt of Terra del Ftiego. Lat.55.j3.S. Ion. 71. 
7. W. Greenwich. 
G IL'BERT’s TOWN, a town of the American States, 
III Virginia; thirty miles north of Cliariottefviile. 
GILBER'Tl A, yi in botany, a genus pf the clafs de- 
r.iiidria, order nionogynia.—Calyx four or five toothed : 
corolla tour or five pietalled ; nectary cylindrical, trun¬ 
cate ; anthene inferted into the margin of the neCtary ; 
caplule tour-celled, the cells one-leeded. 
Species. I. Gilbertia decaiidra : leaves alternate, ob- 
-ioiig, entire, tapering to both ends; racemes axillary, 
Nlacjve of tiie Mauritius.. 
G I L 
2. Gilbcrtia ovata : leaves alternate, obovate, obfufe, 
entire ; peduncles one-flowered, axillary ; fruit downy. 
3. Gilbertia heteropliylla ; leaves alternate, obovate, 
entire, and fmuate; peduncles one-flovvered-, axillary; 
fruit glabrous. Natives of Bourbon. 
4. Gilbertia oppolitifolia: leaves oppofite, elliptic, 
rather obtufe, entire ; pedunclesaxillary, three-tlower- 
ed. Found at the Mauritius. This gc.nus is the (Juivifia 
of Cavanilles and Juflieu. 
GIL'BFfRTINE, J'. A religious of an order tlius 
called from St. Gilbert of Sempringliam, in the county 
of Lincoln, who founded the fame about tlie year 1148: 
the monks of which oblerved the rule of St. Augutline, 
and were accounted canons; and the nuns that of St. 
Benedidl. The founder of this order erected a double 
monaflery for men and women, but parted by a very^ 
liigli wall. St. Gilbert liimfelf founded thirteen mo- 
nalteries of tills order, viz. four for men alone, and nine 
for men and women together, which had in them feven 
hundred brethren and fifteen hundred fillers. At the 
difiblution there were about twenty-five hoiifes of this 
order in Flngland and Wales. 
GIL'BERTINE, adj. [from the /] Of the abocm 
order.—Ttiirteen religious houfes of tlie fame order had 
ill them feven hundred Gilberiine brethren, and eleven 
hundred fillers. IVccver. 
GILBO'A, the name of a range of mountains fituated 
in Palelline, near which the Ifraelites under king Saul 
were totally defeated by tlie Philifljnes. In this battle 
the three fons of Saul, Jonathan, Abiaadab, and Mal- 
chifiuia, were llaiii in the field ; and Saul being greatly 
wounded, at length fell a voluntary victim to liisowu 
fvvord. I Sam. xxxi. 
7 b GILD, V. a. pret. gilded, ot gilt, [gilban, Sax.J 
To vvatli over with gold ; to cover w'ith foliated gold ; 
Purch'afing riches with our time and care. 
We lofe our freedom in -x gilded fnarc. Rofeommon,. 
Her joy in gilded chariots when alive. 
And love of ombre, after deatli lurvive. Pope. 
To colour with any yellow matter: 
Thou did’fl drink 
The ftale of horfes, and xpst gilded puddle, 
Which beafls w'ould cough at. Shakefpeare. 
To adorn with luflre; 
No more the riling fun thall gild the morn. 
Nor ev’nirig Cynthia fill her lilver horn. Pope. 
To brighten; to illuminate.—The lightfome paflion of 
joy was not that trivial, vanifliing, laperficial, thing, 
that only gilds the apprehenfioii, and plays upon the 
furface of the foul. South. —To recommend by adventi¬ 
tious ornaments : 
For my part, if a lie may do thee grace. 
I’ll gild it with the liappiell term.s I have. Shakefpeare. 
Yet, oh ! th’ imperfedl piece moves more delight: 
’TIS gilded o’er with youth to catch the fight. Drydcn. 
GlLD,y. [jilban, Sax. to pay.] A tax, a tribute, 
a contribution ; a Ibciety, a fraternity. 
GILD'ABLE, adj. Liable to pay a gild. 
GILD'ALE,/. A drinking-bout where every one pays 
an equal lhare. Scott. 
GIL'DAS, furnained the Wise, a Britifii monk in 
the fixth century, and the moll ancient Britifa writer 
now extant, born in the year 320. He is alio by many 
authors furnamed B.4DONicus, to dillinguifii him irom 
a Gild AS Ale an i us, v.;ho is fuppofed to have lived at 
an earlier period. He wa’s a difciple ot Iltiitus, abbot 
of Morgan, and became a monk ot Bangor, where he di¬ 
ligently applied himfelf to tlie learning of the times ; 
and particularly to the feudy of the Scriptures, in order 
to qualify himlelf for the duties of a public preacher. 
In 381, he wrote his Epijlola de E.xcidio Britamtue, & Caji- 
gatwue 
