G I R 
cattle. I o^ferved tha'/ they were more fond of horfes 
than any thing elfe ; for which reafon I placed a gipfy 
under each groom. I had their children clothed, that 
none of them might be running about naked, according 
to their ufual pradtice. It appeared, however, that 
cuftom was become nature with them. The old ones 
worked diligently fo long as any body Hood over themj 
the moment their back was turned they all got together 
in a circle, their legs acrofs, facing the fun, and chat¬ 
tered. Thus they esmnot poiTibly earn more, indeed 
hardly fo mucli, as -would find them bread. Even in 
winter they cannot bear a hat on their head, nor flioes 
on their feet. The boys will run like wild things after 
carrion, let it ftink never fo much ; and where a mor¬ 
tality happens among the cattle, there thel'e wretched 
beings are to be found in the greateft numbers.’ The 
origin of this people, as we have I'een, has been gene¬ 
rally fuppofed to be Egyptian ; and that belief is as 
old as their exiltence in Europe. Thomalius, Salmon, 
and fignior Grifelini, have endeavoured to prove the 
faft by fatisfaCtory evidence. This theory, however, 
leems without foundation. The Egyptian defeent of 
thefe people is not only deflitute of proofs, but the 
rnofl pofitive evidence is found to contradiilf it. Their 
language differs entirely from the Coptic ; and their 
cufloins are very difter-.mt from ihofe of the Egyptians. 
They are indeed to he found in Egypt ; but tliey wan¬ 
der about there as flrangers, and form a diffinft people 
as in other countries,” 
The Egyptian deltent of the gipfies being thus re- 
je6led by Grellman, lie next endeavours to Ihew that 
they came from Hindooftan. The chief bafis of his 
theory, however, is no other than that very dubious 
one, a fimilarity of language. He adds a long vocabu¬ 
lary of the gipfy and the Hindoo languages ; in which, 
it muff be confeffed, many vs'ords are the fame; but 
many are different. The caufe of their emigration from 
their country, he conjectures, not without probability, 
to be the W'ar of Timur Bee, or Tamerlane, in India. 
In the years 140S and 1409, this conqueror ravaged In¬ 
dia ; and the progrefs of his arms was attended with 
devaftation and cruelty. All who made refiftance were 
deftroyed ; tliofe who fell into the enemy’s hands were 
made Haves ; of thofe very flaves one hundred thoufand 
were put to death. As on this occafion an univerfal 
panic took place, what could be more natural than that 
a great number of terrified inhabitants fhould endea¬ 
vour to fave themfelves by flight ? He next endea¬ 
vours to trace the route by which tlie gipfies came from 
Hindooffan to Europe : but here he jultly acknowledges 
that all is mere furmife ; and that there Hill hangs a 
cloudovertheoriginof this extraordinary race of people. 
GI'RAFFE, the Cameleopardalus. See Cer- 
vus, vol. iv. p. 51. 
GIRA'GLIA, a fmall ifland near the north coaff of 
the ifland of Corfica : twenty-three miles north of Baf- 
tia, and one and a half from Cape Corfo. 
GI'RALD (Barry), or Giraldus Cambrenfis, See Bar¬ 
ry, vol. ii, p. 761. 
GIRAL'DI (Cinzio Giambattifta), an Italian poet, 
born at Ferrara in 1504. He ftudied the languages un¬ 
der Calcagnini, and medicine under Manardi, in which 
faculty he graduated. He was for twelve years pro- 
feffbr of philofophy and phyfic at Ferrara, where duke 
Hercules made him his fecretary. He was continued 
for fome time in the fame employ by duke Alphonfo ; 
but a difference arifing between him and Giambattilla 
Pigna refpeCting a publication, caufed him to quit Fer¬ 
rara. In 1564 he accepted an invitation from the duke 
of Savoy to take tlie chair of eloquence in the univer- 
lity of Mondovi. He W'as honourably difmiffed in 1568, 
and removed to a fimilar fituation at Pavia. Finally, 
he returned to Ferrara, where he died in 1573. Cinthio 
Giraldi diftinguifhed himfelf as- a writer in various 
branches of literature. He wrote nine Italian tragedies;, 
G I R 579 
which were received with great applaufe. The moff 
efteemed among them was, L’Orbecche, firft reprefented 
before duke Hercules in 1541, and ftill accounted one 
of the beft dramatic productions of that age. Flis paf- 
toral drama, entitled Egle, was written earlier than th.e- 
Saenjizio of Beccari, ulually reckoned the fiift compofi- 
tion of the kind. His poem of- twenty-fix cantos, enti¬ 
tled Ercolc, printed in 1557, has fallen into oblivion. 
Thd work by which he is moff known is his Ecatomnithi, 
or Hundred Novels, 2 vols. 8vo. 1365. It has been 
tranflated into different languages, and furnilhed fables 
for dramatic and other compofitions. He wrote in La¬ 
tin, Poems ; the Hiffory of Andrew Doria ; and a Com¬ 
mentary on the Princes of Efte and Ferrara, taken from 
the Epitome of Lilius Gyraldus. 
GIRAL'DI (Giglio Gregorio ; in Latin, Lilius Gi¬ 
raldus), one of the moff learned men of his time, born 
at Ferrara in 1489. He (ludied the languages and law 
at his native place under the inconveniences of poverty ; 
and, after finifhing his education, went to Naples, where 
he contradfed a friendfliip with Pontano, Sannazaro, 
and -the other elegant fcholars then flourifhlng in that 
city. Fie next vilited Mirandola, Carpi, and Milan, in 
which laft place he improved himfelf in Greek under 
Demetrius Chalcondylas. At Modena, the countefs 
Rangone chofe him for preceptor to her fon Hercules, 
afterwards cardinal. He ■ accompanied that lady to 
Rome at the beginning of the pontificate of Leo X. 
and had apartments in the Vatican. He remained in 
Rome during the two fucceeding pontificates, and was 
thought to be in the way of high promotion ; yet he ob¬ 
tained nothing more than the office of apoftolical pro- 
thonotary. At the faek of Rome in 1527 he loff all his 
property, and even his books. To this calamity was 
added that of the death of his patron, cardinal Ran- 
gonef; fo that he left the capital in great diftrefs, and 
went firff to Bologna, and then to Mirandola. In this 
city he was received wdtli great kindnefs by Giantran- 
cefco Pico, but ill fortune Hill purfued him. This pa¬ 
tron was murdered in 1533, and Giraldi with great dif¬ 
ficulty efcaped to F'errara w-ith his life. From the ex¬ 
treme poverty to which he was reduced, he was re¬ 
lieved by the favour of the duchefs Renata, and that 
of feveral of the nobility, fo that in his latter years he 
was able to lay up a fum of ten thoufand crowns. His 
health, however, was extremely impaired, and he fi- 
niflied his days in 1552. He bequeathed moff of his 
property to duke Hercules, though he had feveral poor 
relations ; and his books to Cinthio Giraldi, wlio ap¬ 
pears to have been his kinfman. The great extent of 
his reading is particularly fliewn by his work, entitled, 
Syntagma de Diis Gentium, in feventeen dilfertations. It 
is the firft treatife in whicli mythology is difeufled in a 
truly learned manner, and there is fcarcely any ancient 
author, Greek or Latin, which he does not quote. Be¬ 
longing to the fame argument are his Treatife on the 
Mufes ; on the Ships of the Ancients and their Modes 
of Burial; on the Life of Hercules ; his Explications 
of the Pythagorical Symbols and other ancient Enig¬ 
mas ; his Treatife of Years and Months, with the Greek 
and Latin Calendars ; and his Thirty Dialogues on Sub¬ 
jects of Erudition. His other great w'ork is, A Hiffory 
of the Greek and Latin Poets ; and of the Poets of his 
own Time; the latter of which is an exact account of 
the ffate of poetry during the firff fifty years of the 
fixteenth century. He was hiinlelf an elegant Latin 
poet, and fome of his compofitions are joined to the 
Leyden edition of his works in 1696, 2 vols. folio. It 
was probably a fenfe of his own misfortunes that in¬ 
duced him to write two fmall pieces againff ingratitude,, 
and a work which became famous, entitled, rrogyinnaf- 
mata adverjus Litter as L 3 Litteratos •. this attack upon let¬ 
ters, indeed, he alferied to be only a Iport of the ima¬ 
gination. FJe tranflated from tlie Ureek a woik of Si¬ 
mon of Antiocli, De Cibariorum Faeultale,. 
I GI'RANj 
