G It A 
172^. His elTays on law, religion, and education, were 
dedicated to George II. wlien prince of Wales ; and his 
royal highnefs’s lecretary, Mr. Samuel Molineaux, wrote 
him a letter of thanks, in whiclt were many gracious ex- 
prcdions, as well in relation to the piece as to its author. 
GRANT'ABLE, adj. TItat which may be granted. 
—The office ol the bilhop’s chancellor was t^rantuble for 
life. Ayhffe. 
GRaNTEE', f. He to whom any grant is made.— 
To fmooth the way to popery in Mary’s time, the 
grantees were'.confirmed by the pope in the poffellion of 
tile abbey-lands. Swift. 
GRANTOR', /! He by whom a grant is made.—A 
duplex querela (hali not be granted under pain of fufpen- 
lion of the gr AT? ter from iheexecution of his office. Aylijfe. 
GRANl'HAM, a rich and populous town in Lin- 
colnffiire, feated on the river Witham, about thirty 
miles to the louth of Lincoln, in the road from London 
to York, (which was formerly the Ermine-Ereet of the 
Romans,) twenty-one miles north.by-weft of Stamford, 
fourteen fouth of Newark, and one hundred and ten 
north-by-weft of London. The church is a lofty ftruc- 
ture, with one of the higheft ftone fpires in England, 
being one hundred yards high. This beautiful fpire 
was materially injured by a ftorm on the 30th of July, 
1797. The infide of the church is very handfomc, and 
contains a fine-toned organ with a double front, and ten 
good mutical bells. Here are two charity-fchools : one 
lounded by biffiop Fox, who v.'as born in a poor mean 
lioule at Ropefley, about five miles diftant from this 
place, now nearly deftroyed by time ; and here fir 
Ifaac Newton received the firft principles of literature, 
under tlie famous William Walker, then fchoolmafter. 
Grantham has a large market on Saturdays for corn, 
and abundance of all kinds of provifions at a reafonable 
rate. Alfo five fairs, as follow :—the fifth Monday in 
Lent; Holy Thurfday ; July the loth ; Oftober the 
26th; and December the i7tli : all for horfes, ftieep, 
and other cattle. The town is governed by an ancient 
corporation, confifting of an alderman, a recorder, 
twelve burgeflcs, a coroner, an efchcator, twelve fecond 
men, who are the common-council, and fix conftables, 
to attend on the court: tlse alderman and burgefies 
have power to abt as juftices of the peace in the Soke of 
Grantham, comprehending twelve neighbouring towns. 
It fends two members to parliament, who are chofen by 
the freemen of the corporation. In 1793, an aiT of par¬ 
liament was obtained to make a navigable canal from 
Grantham to the Trent at Nottingham, which opens a 
communication, by water-carriage, to moft parts of the 
kingdom ; and is highly beneficial to this town and 
neighbourhood. 
GRANT'STON, a fmall lake of United America, in 
the ftate ol North Carolina: twenty-five miles weft of 
Exeter. 
GRANTZ'WASSER, a river of Germany, in the 
circle of Upper Saxony, which runs into the Elfter, two 
miles foutli-vveft ol Muckenburg, in the marggraviate 
of Meilfen. 
GRAN'VILLE, \_grande ville^ great town; 
a furname. 
GRAN'VILLE (George), baron Lanfdown, a noble¬ 
man diftinguilhed as a poet, born in iGG-j. He w'as en¬ 
tered as early as his twelfth year at Trinity college, Cam¬ 
bridge; and in 1679, dilplayed his juvenile propenfity 
to poetry by a copy of verfes addrelfed to the duchels 
of York on her vilit to the univerfity. On the acceflion 
of James II. in 1685, his courrly mule refumed her 
ftrains to celebrate the new monarch, in three fiiort 
pieces. When, in 1688, the invafion of the prince of 
Orange was threatened, he wrote a fpirited, though re- 
fpcftlul, letter to liis lather, requefting to be prelented 
to his majerty as one who was ambitious to devote his 
life to his lervice. After the revolution, being pof- 
leftcd neither ol interell nor tonfiderable fortune, he 
VOL.VIII. N0.54J. 
G R A 79^ 
lired in retirement. During this jieriod his dramatic 
works were chiefly coinpofed and acted. 'Lhe firft of 
thefe was. The She Gallants, faid to have been written 
at an age wlten fome perfons are but beginning to fpcll. 
He afterwards gave it in a more cone£t form, under the 
title of. Once a Lover and always a Lover; and it ap- 
pear.s, according to the fafliion of thofe times, to have 
been more diftinguilhed for licentioufnefs than wit. 
His tragedy of Heroic Love, founded on the fable ot 
Homer’s Iliad, was adted in 1696, with great applaufe 
from the wits and critics. Dryden addrelfed a copy of 
complimentary verfes to him on the occafion, in which 
the old bard adopts the young one as his fuccelfor in 
fame : 
But fince ’tis nature’s law, in love and wit. 
That youth fliotild reign, and with’ring age fubmit. 
With lefs regret thofe laurels I refign. 
Which, dying on my brows, revive on thine. 
Dryden, however, though a poet, was ho prophet ; 
and it was beyond even his powers to raife mediocrity' 
to the rank of excellence. His Mafque of Pelcus and 
Thetis, joined to an alteration of Shakefpeare’s Mer¬ 
chant of Venice, and his Britifti Enchanters, a dramatic 
Poem, complete the lift of his performances in this clafs. 
They are faid to have been well received on the ftage, 
but have retained no place there. 
Whq;i queen Anne came to the crown, Mr. Gran¬ 
ville was elefted a member for the borough ot howey 
in the firft parliament of the new reign ; and foon alter, 
partaking of the ardour againft the ambition ot Louis 
XIV. he joined in a tranflation of the Philippics ot De- 
mofthenes, intended to roufe the nation to arms under 
the vidlorious and invincible duke ol Marlborough. 
On the change of the miniftry in 17 lo, lie was appoint¬ 
ed fecretary at war, in the room of Robert Walfiole, af¬ 
terwards earl of Orford, He married in that year 
Mary, daughter of Ed ward Villiers earl of Jcrfey, then 
the widow of Thomas Thynne, elq. He was intro¬ 
duced into the houfe of peers by tlie title of lord Landf- 
down, baron of Biddeford, at the memorable creation 
of twelve peers in one day, December 31, 1711 : and his 
elevation was not one ol thofe which appeared extraor¬ 
dinary, as two peerages had become extinCt in the Gran¬ 
ville family. On account of his principles and conduitl 
he Itood high in the favour of the queen, w ho conferred 
upon him firit the poll of comptroller of the houlehold, 
with a feat in the privy-council, and tlien ot trealurer 
of the houfehold. The accellion of George I. put an 
end to the power of his party, and deprived him ot liis 
place. He remained (leady to his former connedtions,^ 
and protefted againft the bill for attainting the duke ot 
Ormond and lord Bolingbroke. He was, in conle- 
quence, reckoned among tho-fe who were dilaftefted to 
tlie new order of things; and, upon the breaking out ot 
the rebellion in 1715, vvas committed to the 1 oiver. 
He was kept in imprifonment till February, 1717, w'iien 
he obtained his liberty, and refunied his leat in the 
houfe of lords. The ftedfaftnefs of his political princi¬ 
ples was dilplayed in 1719, by an animated ipeech 
againft the propofed repeal of the bill to prevent occa- 
lional conformity, which he printed. It is tuppoled 
that a derangement in his affairs, owing to want ot eco¬ 
nomy, was the caule of his fpending fome years after¬ 
wards upon the continent. During his ablence, the 
firft volume of bifliop Burnet’s Hiltory of his own 'l imes 
making its appearance, lord Landfdown was induced to 
undertake the vindication of the charatters of Monk 
duke of Albemarle and the earl of Bath from fome af- 
perlions thrown upon them in that work. On his re¬ 
turn home, in 1733, he publiflicd a fplendid edition of 
his w’orks. He was now I'o well reconciled to the change 
in the fucceflion, that he went to court, where he was 
gracioufly received by queen Caroline, to whom he pre- 
IVnted his works, with tome elegant lines written on the 
9 Q laft 
