OR, A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, AND MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE; ENLARGED AND IMPROVED. THE SIXTH EDITION. Jllustrated with nearly sir hundred Engravings. VOL. X. INDOCTI DISCANT; AMENT MEMINISSE PERITI. EDINBURGH: AND HURST, ROBINSON, AND COMPANY, 90, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. 1823. ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA. Gothofred, Gottenbarg. G GOT OTHOFRED, or GODFREY, DENIS or DIONYSIUS, an eminent civil lawyer, born of an illustrious house at Paris in 1549. Finding his country involved in the confusion of the leaguers, he accepted of a professor's chair at Geneva, until he was patronized and employed by Henry IV.; but being afterwards stripped of his employments as a Huguenot, he at length retired to Heidelburg, from whence no offers were able to detach him. He was, however, disappointed of his intention to end his days there; for the disturbances that broke out in the Palatinate obliged him, in 1621, to take refuge in Strasburg, where he died the following year. He wrote a great number of books; but his principal work is the Corpus Juris Civilis, cum notis. GOTHOFRED, Theodore, son of the former, was born at Geneva in 1580. As soon as he had finished his studies, he went to Paris; where he conformed to the Romish religion, and applied with indefatigable industry to the study of history, that of France particularly, wherein he became very eminent, as appears by his works. In 1632, the king made him one of his historiographers, with a stipend of 3000 livres ; and, in 1636, he was sent to Cologne, to assist at the treaty of peace negociating there on the part of France, by the cardinal of Lyons. This treaty being removed to Munster, Gothofred was sent thither, where he drew up Memoirs on the subject; and continued in that city, in the king's service, to his death in 1649. His principal work is his "Account of the Ceremonial of the kings of France." GOTTENBURG, or GOTHEBURG, a rich and strong town of West Gothland, in Sweden, with a good har bour, at the mouth of the river Gothelba; which is the best situated for foreign trade of any in Sweden, as it lies without the Sound. It occupies the site of an ancient town, named Lodese, which was built by Gustavus Vasa; and being endowed with considerable privileges, soon became the great emporium for the trade of the western provinces. Charles IX. when duke of Gothland, having in 1604 laid the foundations of a new town in the island of Hisingen, at no great distance from Lodese, called Gotheborg (since corrupted into Gottenburg), in honour of his duchy; upon his accession to the throne, he erected in his new town a trading company; drew thither many foreigners, particularly the Dutch, to whom he allowed an exemption from all duties of export and import during 20 years; a corps of English and VOL. X. Part I. GOT Scots troops under the command of William Stewart; and granted to the Calvinists established therein the free exercise of their religion, the first place in Sweden where this toleration was permitted. The town being in 1611 reduced to ashes by the Danes, was rebuilt in the reign of Gustavus Adolphus in its present situation, and obtained a confirmation of its ancient rights, with the grant of several additional privileges. It is built in a very sigular situation. At a small distance from the sea is a marshy plain, scarcely more than half a mile in breadth, watered by the rivers Gotha and Moldal, and almost entirely enclosed with high ridges of rocks, so bare and rugged, that they scarcely produce a single blade of grass, and exhibit as barren an appearance as the summits of the loftiest Alps. Gottenburg stands partly upon the ridges, and partly in the plain; and is divided from these different situations into the Upper and Lower Town. The latter is entirely level, intersected by several canals in the manner of the Dutch towns; and its houses are all constructed upon piles; the upper part hangs on the declivities; and rows of buildings rise one above the other like the seats of an amphitheatre. The whole is regularly fortified; and its çircumference is near three miles, exclusive of the suburbs, called Haga, which lie toward the harbour. streets are all uniformly straight: a few of the houses are of brick; but the generality are constructed with wood painted red. The harbour is formed by two chains of rocks, and is about a quarter of a mile in breadth. Its entrance is defended by the fort of New Elfsborg, which stands upon a small rocky island, and contains a garrison of 250 men. There is at Gottenburg a Royal Society of Sciences and Literature, upon the plan of that of Upsala.-Mr Coxe was informed by a merchant who had resided 22 years at Gottenburg, that, during that period, its population had increased considerably, and that it now contained about 30,000 inhabitants. This flourishing state is attributed to the extension of its commerce, particularly its East India Company, and the success of the herring-fishery. An English consul and several merchants of our nation reside at Gottenburg: and a chapel, with a regular chaplain, is appropriated to their use. E. Long. 11. 44. N. Lat. 57. 40. The GOTTINGEN, a considerable town of Lower Saxony in Germany, and in the duchy of Brunswick; formerly free and imperial, but afterwards subject to the elector of Hanover. Here his late majesty George II. A founded Gottenburg, Gottingen. Goudt. Gottingen founded an university. It is seated on the river Leine, GOUDA, or TURGOW, a considerable town of GOUDT, HENRY, usually called Count Goudt, was born of a noble family at Utrecht, in 1570; and was a knight of the Palatinate. Being passionately fond of the arts, particularly painting and engraving, and desirous of engaging in them, he applied himself diligently to drawing, and made a great proficiency therein. He went to Rome to examine the works of the great masters in that city. Here he contracted an intimacy with that excellent artist Adam Elsheimer; studied his manner of penciling, designing, and colouring; and made his works models for his own imitation. He pre-engaged all the pictures that his friend and favourite could finish, and even paid liberally for them before-hand; by which means he found himself in possession of a most desirable treasure. Those pic tures which Goudt himself painted were neatly and delicately touched, in colour and pencil resembling Elsheimer, though they were in no degree equal to the paintings of that admirable master. On his return to his native country, a young woman, who was in love with him, and desirous of fixing his affections upon her, gave him in his drink a love philtre: which, however, terminated in a very melancholy manner, by depriving him totally of his senses; and in the dreadful state of idiotism he dragged on a miserable life to the age of 66, his death happening in 1636. It is remarkable, that though lost to every other subject, when painting was spoken of he would discourse upon it in a very rational manner. Goudt night-scene, in which the moon and stars are introdu- GOVERNMENT, in general, is the polity of a Civil government was instituted for the preservation and advancement of men's civil interests, and for the better security of their lives, liberties, and properties. The use and necessity of government is such, that there never was an age or country without some sort of civil authority: but as men are seldom unanimous in the means of attaining their ends, so their differences in opinion in relation to government have produced a va riety of forms of it. To enumerate them would be to recapitulate the history of the whole earth. But, according to Montesquieu, and most other writers, they may, in general, be reduced to one of these three kinds. 1. The republican. 2. The monarchial. 3. The despotic. The first is that, where the people in a body, or only a part of the people, have the sovereign power; the second, where one alone governs, but by fixed and established laws; but in the despotic government, one person alone, without law and without rule, directs every thing by his own will and caprice. See the arti cle LAW, N° 1. 3—10. On the subject of govern ment at large, see Montesquieu's L'Esprit des Loix, 1. 2. c. 1.; Locke, ii. 129, &c. quarto edition, 1768; Sidney on government; Sir Thomas Smith de Repub. Angl. and Acherly's Britannic Constitution. As to Gothic government, its original and faults, &c. see Montesquieu's L'Esprit des Loix, l. 11. c. 8. See FEODAL System in this work, and GOVERNMENT in the SUPPLEMENT. GOVERNMENT is also a post or office, which gives a person the power or right to rule over a place, a city, or a province, either supremely or by deputation. GOVERNMENT is likewise used for the city, country, or place to which the power of governing is extended. GOUGE, an instrument used by divers artificers, being a sort of round hollow chisel; serving to cut holes, channels, grooves, &c. in wood, stone, &c. Goudt practised engraving as well as painting, and ries. 3. A translation of St Cyprian De lapsis. 4. Se- GOURD. See CUCURBITA, BOTANY Index. |
