SOI 
G R. A 
flood, and return from Billingfgate on tlie like fignal 
witli every ebb. 
To prel'erve the town from future depredation, Hen¬ 
ry Vin, raffed a platform of guns to the ea(t ot the 
town, and erected a fort diredtly oppolitc, at 'I'ilbury, 
on the Elfex fliore, which is a regular fortification, has 
a battery commanding the river mounted witli above 
one hundred pieces of cannon, carrying balls from 
twenty-four to foi ty-fix pounds weigJir. Queen Eliza¬ 
beth made a law, that the lord-mayor of London, the 
aldermen, and all the companies, (hould go and receive 
ali'eminent tlrangers and ambaffadors at Gravelend, in 
their formalities, and attend them to London in their 
ftate barges, if rliey went by water ; if they went by 
land, they were to meet them on horfeback in their 
gowns on Blackhcath. In 1727, the church and great 
part of the town was confumed by fire. Gravefend is 
a corporation town, and, together with Milton, go¬ 
verned by a mayor, jurats, and common-council men. 
The town-hou(e, where all public bufinefs is tranfadted, 
was built in 1764; and is a handfome flruClure. Here 
are two markets weekly, on "W ednefday and Saturday ; 
and a filh-market every Sunday morning. Fairs April 
23, October 24 and 25. 
All outward-bound Ihips are obliged to caft anchor 
before the port of Gravefend, till they have been ex¬ 
amined by, and obtained proper clearances from, fearch- 
ers, appointed tor that purpote, who have an office near 
the town-quay : a centinel is alio Itationed at the block- 
houfe, below the town, to give notice by the firing of 
a mufket when thijis are coming up the river, wh.o are 
obliged to receive on-board officers from the cuttoms, 
a number of whom are conllantly waiting for that pur- 
pofe. fl he prelent elegant church, dedicated to St. 
George, was ereCfed under an adl of parliament patTed 
in 1731, at the public expence, being confidered as one 
of the fifty new churches, for tlie building of which 
the legillature had made a provifion in the reign of 
queen Anne. In the town are a fet of alms-houtes, the 
gift of Mr. Henry Penock, in 1624, to the poor of the 
corporation ; being twenty-one dvvelling-houles, and a 
houfe for a weaver to employ the laid poor. There is 
a iufficient eftate to repair and maintain the fame ; and 
alfo the ground on- which a cliarity-l'chool is built. 
The gardens round this town are fo ricJi, that iliey not 
only fupply the flipping with every article of that 
kind, but fend great quantities to London ; the alpa- 
ragus in particular is remarkably fine : nine miles welt- 
north-well of Rochetler, and twenty-two and a half eafl 
of London. Lat. 51. 23. N. 
GRAVESEND', a port luuated on the fouth-weftern 
fide of the illand of Jamaica^ in a large bay. It has 
two channels, the Leeward and the Main Channel ; and 
affords good anchorage for large vetlels. 
GRAVESEND', a townfiiip of the American States, 
in King’s county, Long Illand, New York, I'even miles 
north by ealt of that city. 
GRA'VESON, a town of France, in the department 
of the mouths of the Rhone, and chief place of a can¬ 
ton, in the difiritf of Tarafcoii : five miles north-eaft 
of Tarafcon. 
GRA'VEST, fuperl. of grave. See Grave. 
GRA'VESTONE, f. The ftone tliat is laid over the 
grave ; the monumental Itone : 
Timon, prefently prepare thy grave ; 
Lye where the white loam of the fea may beat 
'ahy gravejione daily. Skakefpeare, 
GRAV'ID, adj. 'igravidus, Lat. heavy, full.] Preg¬ 
nant ; impregnated. 
GRAVlD'l'lY, yi Pregnancy; ftate of being with 
child.—Women, obltrutted, have not always tlie fore- 
mentioned lymptoms ; in Ihofe the ligns oi gravidity-And 
obftriictions are hard to be diftinguilhed in the begin¬ 
ning. Arbutknot. 
CJ R A 
GRAVIM'ETFR, yi the r-aine given by M. Guy¬ 
ton to an inftrumenv ot glaf., tonfiructed for the pur- 
pofc ol (leicrmining the fpecific gravity of bodies, uj oii 
a } rinciple v. ry linulai to thcHYDRCMrTrR; whiclifee. 
GRAYI'NA, a town ol Italy, in the kingdom of 
Napltv-, and province of Ban ; the fee of a billiop, fuf- 
Iragan cl Acercnza : nine miles v eil of Matera. 
GRAVEN A (Domenicod.i), a v liter of hiftory in 
the fourteeni li Cent 111), born at Gr.A'ina, in the king¬ 
dom ot Naples. He was a notary by profeffion, but 
was much engaged in the livil wars v.liicli agitated his 
country at that period. He wrote in Latin a Hiftory of 
Naples, and alio a Hiftory of the tranfiiclions in that 
part ot Italy di’.ring iiis own times, from 1333 to 1350. 
Ot tills work, whn h is valuable for the apparent fide-’ 
lity ot the narration, ilie beginning and the end are loft. 
The remainder was printed by Muratori, in his collec¬ 
tion of Italian hiftorian;^. 
GRAVl'NA (Jolin-Vincent), an eminent jtirift, born- 
in 1664, at Rogiano in Calabria. He received a very 
liberal education, cotiipriliti'g tlie learned languages, 
geometry, ph)dics, hiftory, antiquities, and tiieoiogy. 
Fie ftudied civil and canon law at Naples; and vifitino- 
liome in 1688, he was domeiiicated fome years with 
Paul Coardo of Turin. He was one of the original 
founders of the academy of Arcadi, and had the charge 
ot dravving up their laws in the ftyle of the Roman ta¬ 
bles. In 1698 lie v-as nominated profelfor of civil law 
at the college ot Sapieiiza ; five years afterwards lie 
fucceeded ty the chair of canon law, and to the expofi- 
tion ot the decretal. His method of teaching was con¬ 
formable to that he liad purfued in find) ing the fcience. ’ 
Avoiding trifling verbal ditputes and icholaftic fpecu- 
lations, he entered into the ipirit of the laws, illuftrat- 
ing their theory by obtervations drawn from ancient 
writers, and by a criticilni foitnded on his extenfive eru¬ 
dition. In the mean time lie was fpreading his repiita- 
tion by his writings, which were many, and vaiious in 
their lubjedt. His great profelTional work, entitled 
Origines Juris Civilis, fii ft printed at Leipfic in 170S, af-- 
terwards mure coriectly at Naples, 1713, is reckoned a 
claliical performance, lucid in its arnuigement, and re¬ 
plete with lolid learning. His Inftitutes of Civil and 
Canon Law were printed again!! liis will, as he had de- 
ligned to give them in a mere correct and augmented 
form. Gravina likewile undertook to eftabllili a poeti¬ 
cal code, tor which purpote he wrote two books, Della 
Region Poetical, a book, Della Tragedia\ and a treatife, 
De lujiiiutione Poetarim. l.e was more I'uccefsful as a le- 
gitlator than as a prattiler in this art; for his five tra¬ 
gedies, written upon the model of the ar.cients, were 
not favourably received by tlie public; and the autlior’s 
angry expoftulation, proving tliat they ought to have' 
been applauded, was totally inefticacious. Gravina le- 
vifited his native country in 1714, but two years after¬ 
wards returned to Rome. He was preparing to depart 
for 'I urin, whither tlie duke of Savoy liad invited Jiim 
not only to tlie chair of law, but to the general direc¬ 
tion of learned inftitiuions, when he was ieized with an 
ilhiels which, in January 1718, carried him oil', in the 
arms of his icliolar Metallalio, whole poetical talents he 
firft cherilhed, and whom lie left Iteir of all Ills pioperty 
out of Calabria. All the works of this learned writer 
have been publitlied at Naples, in 3 vols. 4to. 1756, 
GRA'VING, f. Carved work.— Skilful to work in 
gold ; alfo to grave any manner of graving, and to find 
out every device which ftiallbe put to him. xCtiro. ii. 14. 
GRA'VISC^E, now Eremo de St. Augujlino, a maritime 
town of Etruria, which aiiiited Aineas againft 'Furntis. 
The air was unwholefome, on account of the maifiies 
and ftagnant waters in its iieiglibourhood. Virgil. 
GRaVIS'ONOUS, adj. [of gravis and Jonus, Lat.] 
Sounding with a grave air. 
To GRAV'ITATE, v.n. [from gravis, Lat.] To 
tend to the centre of attratlion ; 
2 
T hofe 
