"I was somewhat disappointed at first, having supposed the causeway to be of great height; but I found the Giant's Loom, which is the highest part of it, to be about 50 feet from the water. The singular appearance of the columns, and the many strange forms which they assume, render it, nevertheless, an object of the greatest interest." Bayard Taylor. Giant's Colonnade. An interesting natural curiosity, not far from Fingal's Cave in Scotland, being a cluster of columns placed upon a row of curved pillars, and forming a little island about 30 feet high. Giant's Column. A massive block of granite in the Odenwald, Germany, 32 feet long, and 3 or 4 feet in diameter. It still bears the mark of the chisel. "When or by whom it was made, remains a mystery. Some have supposed it was intended to be erected for the worship of the sun by the wild Teutonic tribes who inhabited this for. est; it is more probably the work of the Romans. A project was once started to erect it as a monument on the battle-field of Leipsic, but it was found too difficult to carry into execution." Bayard Taylor. Giants, Destruction of the. See DESTRUCTION OF THE GIANTS. Giant's Organ. The name given, from its very striking resemblance to that instrument, to a magnificent colonnade of basaltic pillars in the Giant's Causeway, Ireland. See GIANT'S CAUSEWAY. Giant's Staircase. [Ital. Scala dei Giganti.] 1. A celebrated staircase in the Doge's Palace at Venice, so called after two statues of the Greek gods, Mars and Neptune, which are of immense size. "Touching the Giant's Stairs in the court of the palace, the inexorable dates would not permit me to rest in the delusion that the head of Marin Falier had once bloodily stained them as it rolled to the ground, at the end of Lord Byron's tragedy." W. D. Howells. As doge, clad in the ducal robes and cap, Where thou and all our princes are in- And there, the ducal crown being first resumed Upon the spot where it was first assumed, Thy head shall be struck off. Byron. He [Nicolo Tron] might have been present, with a countenance of pity, when Foscari, with feeble and tottering steps, descended the Giant's Staircase, and fainted at the sound of the bell which announced the election of a successor. Hillard. A poet on thy Giant Stair to-day 2. A singular freak of nature near Cork, Ireland. Fifteen or 16 huge knobs of rock rise one above another up the face of a very steep ascent, with nearly the regularity of a flight of steps. Giant's Tower. An ancient circular building of Cyclopean architecture at Gozo, one of the Maltese islands. Human bones have been found in and about it. "Its history is lost in the mist of antiquity." Giaour, The. A picture by Ary Gibbon's Tennis-Court Theatre. TAR. Giebichenstein. A ruined castle near Halle, Germany, once a state prison of the German Emperors. Giessbach, The. A noted waterfall near Brienz in Switzerland. Giles's St. See ST. GILES'S. Giltspur Street Compter. A London prison, or City House of Correction, built in 1791, closed in 1854, and since removed. About 6,000 persons were yearly imprisoned there. Ginger-Cake Rock. A natural curiosity in Burke County, N.C. It is an inverted stone pyramid about 30 feet in height, seeming just ready to fall, but in reality perfectly secure. Giorgio, San. See SAN GIORGIO. Giorno, Il. See DAY and ST. JEROME. Giotto's Campanile. The famous and admired bell-tower of the cathedral, or Duomo, of Florence, Italy. It was erected by Giotto (1276-1336), about the middle of the fourteenth century. "The characteristics of Power and Beauty occur more or less in dif. ferent buildings, some in one and some in another. But all together, and all in their highest possible relative degrees, they exist, as far as I know, only in one building of the world, the Campanile of Giotto.... Not within the walls of Florence, but among the far-away fields of her lilies, was the child trained who was to raise that head-stone of Beauty above her towers of watch and war." Ruskin. The mountains from without Listen in silence for the word said next, (What word will men say?) here where Giotto planted His campanile, like an unperplexed Question to Heaven, concerning the things granted To a great people, who, being greatly vexed In act, in aspiration keep undaunted! Mrs. Browning. In the old Tuscan town stands Giotto's tower. The lily of Florence blossoming in stone,- But behold The graceful tower of Giotto there, That fall [Niagara] is more graceful Giotto's Chapel. See ARENA CHAPEL. Giovanni, San. See SAN GIOVAN NI, BAPTISTERY OF SAN GIOVANNI, and PORTA SAN GIOVANNI, Giralda, La. The tower of the Cathedral of Seville, Spain, so called from its vane que gira (which turns round). It is an old Moorish minaret, built in 1196, and held in great veneration. "This is a more massive tower than is, as I believe, to be found any. where else as the work of a Moslem architect.... It contrasts pleasingly with the contemporary campanile at Venice, which, though very nearly of the same dimensions, is lean and bald compared with this tower at Seville. So,indeed, are most of the Italian towers of the same age. All these towers seem to have been erected for very analogous purposes; for the Giralda can never have been meant as the minaret of a mosque, to be used for the call to prayer: nor can we admit the distinction sometimes ascribed to it by those who surmise that it may have been merely meant for an observatory. Most probably it was a pillar of victory, or a tower symbolical of dominion and power, like many others. Indeed, the tradition is, that it was built by King Yousouf to celebrate his famous victory of Alarcos, gained in the year 1129, in which its construction was commenced. As such, it is superior to most of those constructed in the Middle Ages." Fergusson. Girandola. Celebrated fireworks formerly exhibited from the Castle of San Angelo, Rome, at Easter and at the Festival of St. Peter. This magnificent display, considered the grandest exhibition of fireworks in the world, and only surpassed by the illumination of St. Peter's, is now made upon the Monte Pincio. "The show began with a tre. mendous discharge of cannon; and then, for twenty minutes or half an hour, the whole castle was one inces. sant sheet of fire, and labyrinth of blazing wheels of every color, size, and speed; while rockets streamed into the sky, not by ones or twos or scores, but hundreds at a time. The concluding burst the Girandola-was like the blowing up into the air of the whole massive castle without smoke or dust." Dickens. "We did not, however, drive to the Trinità de Monti till after the exhi bition of the Girandola, or great fireworks from the Castle of St. Angelo, which commenced by a tremendous explosion, which represented the raging eruption of a volcano. This was fol. lowed by an incessant and complicated display of every device that imagination could figure, one changed into another, and the beauty of the first effaced by that of the last. Hundreds of immense wheels turned round with a velocity that almost seemed as if demons were whirling them, letting fall thousands of hissing dragons and scorpions and fiery snakes, whose long con volutions, darting forward as far as the eye could reach in every direction, at length vanished into air. Fountains and jets of fire threw up their blazing cascades into the sky. The whole vault of heaven shone with the vivid fires." Eaton. Girard College. A grand and imposing building in Philadelphia, Penn. It is constructed of white marble in the Corinthian style of architecture. Adjoining the main building are other marble buildings used as dormitories, refectories, etc. The college was founded by Stephen Girard (17501831), a Philadelphia merchant, who left $2,000,000 and 45 acres for "the endowment of a college for poor white male children without fathers and between six and ten years of age." The course of instruction continues eight years. By the terms of the will, clergymen of every denomination are forbidden to enter the college grounds. Girondists in Prison. An admired picture by Paul Delaroche (17971856), the celebrated French historical painter. udecca, La. A broad canal in Venice which separates the principal island from the rest of the city, The island is also itself known by this name. See also CANAL OF THE GIUDECCA. 15TM "The islands near Venice are all small, except the Giudecca (which is properly a part of the city), the Lido, and Murano. The Giudecca, from being anciently the bounds in which certain factious nobles were confined, was later laid out in pleasure-gardens and built up with summer palaces. The gardens still remain to some extent, but they are now chiefly turned to practical account in raising vegetables and fruits for the Venetian market; and the palaces have been converted into warehouses and factories." W. D. Howells. Giulio Romano. A portrait of himself by the painter (14921546). In the collection of autograph portraits in the Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Giustiniani Palace. [Ital. Palazzo Giustiniani.] A noted palace in Genoa, Italy. Glaces, Galerie des. See GALERIE DES GLACES. Glacier de Boisson. A well-known Gladiator. See BORGHESE GLADIA- A picture by Jean Léon Gérôme (b. 1827), the French painter. Glamis Castle. The seat of the Earl of Strathmore, near the town of the same name in Scotland, considered one of the finest existing specimens of the old Scottish baronial castles. It is especially interesting from its associations with Shakespeare's play of Macbeth," the "Thane of Glamis." The scene of Duncan's murder is pointed out in a room of the castle. "It is still an inhabited dwelling; though, much to the regret of antiquarians and lovers of the picturesque, the characteristic outworks and defences of the feudal ages which surrounded it have been levelled, and velvet lawns and gravel-walks carried to the very door. Scott, who passed a night there in 1793, while it was yet in its pristine condition, comments on the change mournfully, as undoubtedly a true lover of the past would. . . . Scott says in his Demonology,' that he never came anywhere near to being overcome with a superstitious feeling, except twice in his life, and one was on the night when he slept in Glamis Castle. Scarcely ever a man had so much relish for the supernatural, and so little faith in it. One must confess, however, that the most sceptical might have been overcome at Glamis Castle; for its appearance, by all accounts, is weird and strange, and ghostly enough to start the dullest imagina tion." Mrs. II. B. Stowe. Glasgow Cathedral. An ancient church, dating from the twelfth century, and considered the finest Gothic church in Scotland. "A brave kirk, a' solid, weeljointed mason wark, that will stand as lang as the world, keep hands and gunpowther aff it." Scott. Glastonbury Abbey. A famous ruined monastery in the town of that name in England, formerly SO one of the richest and most powerful institutions of the kind in the kingdom. The ashes of King Arthur, King Edgar, and many distinguished nobles are said to be contained in the ruins of this abbey. It is thought to stand on the spot where the first Christian church in England was erected. Glastonbury Thorn. A famous hawthorn tree which once grew at Glastonbury, Somerset, England, fabled to have sprung from the staff which Joseph of Ärimathea stuck into the ground. The tradition is, that it blossomed every Christmas Day; and highly prized were the blossoms that they were exported by the merchants of Bristol to foreign parts. In the time of Queen Elizabeth one trunk of the doublebodied tree was cut down by some Puritans, and in the reign of Charles I. the other was destroyed, but slips from the tree are still flourishing. It is said to be the fact, that the shrub blossoms some months earlier than elsewhere, and occasionally as early as Christmas; which circumstance is explained by some on the supposition that the monks of Glastonbury brought the tree from Palestine, and that in its adopted soil it retained the habits of its native place. It is the winter deep, and all And as they cross the northward brow, See white, but not with snow, The mystic thorn beside their path Its holy blossoms show. Henry Alford. Glen, The. The name by which is familiarly known an interesting spot in the White-Mountain region, New Hampshire, a favorite resort of tourists. It is situated at the very base of Mount Washington, with Adams, Jefferson, Clay, and Madison in full and unobstructed view. It is the point from which the carriageroad up Mount Washington begins its ascent. Glen Almond. A lovely glen on the river Almond in Scotland, and supposed to be the burial In this still place, remote from men, Glen-Ellis Fall. A picturesque cataract in the White Mountains, New Hampshire, not far from the "Glen" and the base of Mount Washington. It is regarded as the finest cascade in the whole region. Glen Onoko. A mountain ravine near Mauch Chunk, Penn., with attractive rock and forest scenery and many cascades. It is a place of much resort. Glenarm Castle. The seat of the Earl of Antrim, in the county of Antrim, Ireland. Glencoe. A celebrated glen, or pass, in the county of Argyle, Scotland. "In the Gaelic tongue, Glencoe signifies the Glen of Weeping; and, in truth, that pass is the most dreary and melancholy of all the Scottish passes, the very Valley of the Shadow of Death. Mists and storms brood over it through the greater part of the finest summer. Huge precipices of naked stone frown on both sides. Mile after mile the only sound that indicates life is the faint cry of a bird of prey. The progress of civilization, which has turned so many wastes into fields yellow with harvest or gay with appleblossoms, has only made Glencoe more desolate." Macaulay. 66 Globe, The. 1. A noted theatre in Southwark, London, built in the reign of Elizabeth, burnt in 1613, and rebuilt the following_year. A patent was granted by James I. to Shakespeare and his companions to play as within their then usuall house, called the Globe, in the county of Surry, as elsewhere." It is represented in an old print as resembling a high martello tower, with very narrow windows, and surmounted by a turret and a flag. Ben Jonson speaks of the Globe as the "glory of the Bank, and the fort of the whole parish." The exterior was hexagonal in shape, and the interior circular, with an open roof. It was burned down by the accidental lighting of the thatch, occasioned by the discharge of a piece of ordnance during the representation of the play of Henry VIII., June 29, 1613. It was rebuilt during the reign of King James, and was finally taken down April 15, 1644. Alas! Shakespeare had to write for the Globe Playhouse, his great soul had to crush itself, as it could, into that and no other mould. It was with him then, as it is with us all. No man works save unCarlyle. der conditions. 2. A theatre in Boston, Mass. Globe Tavern. A house of entertainment, now closed, in Fleet Street, London, frequented in the last century. Gloom. See CASTLE CAMpbell. Gloriette. An open pillared hall, 300 feet long, and commanding a magnificent view, in the gardens of Schönbrunn, near Vienna. Gloucester Cathedral. One of the finest ecclesiastical structures in England, in Gloucester, the capital of the county of the same name. It was built in 1047, and was formerly a rich Benedictine abbey. Gloucester House. A noble house in Piccadilly, London, belonging to the Duke of Cambridge. Glyptothek. [Gr. YAUTÓS, carved, enky, collection.] A famous gallery of sculpture in Munich, Bavaria, regarded as the finest collection, with the exception of that in the British Museum, north of the Alps. The building, which forms a hollow square, lighted entirely from the inner side, with an Ionic portico of white marble, was finished by Klenze in 1830. "The Glyptothek - an affect. ed name for a statue-gallery-is, on the whole, the most beautiful, merely beautiful building I ever saw; and there is a school of painting there, which for the wideness and boldness of its range, and the number of artists attached to it, is a phenomenon the world has not seen since the days of Raffaelle and Michael Angelo." George Ticknor. "In the Glyptothek we wander amongst the most beautiful produc tions of art, brought together from the four corners of the world. In the Glyp tothek stand the immortal figures by Scopas, Thorwaldsen, and Canova; and the walls are resplendent with colors that will tell posterity of Cornelius, Zimmermann, and Schlotthauer." Hans Christian Andersen. Nowhere, not even on a gala-day in the Pope's Church of St. Peter, is there such an explosion of intolerable hypocrisy, on the part of poor mankind, as when you admit them into their Royal Picture gallery, Glyptothek, museum, or other divine temple of the fine arts. Carlyle. Gobelins. A famous carpet manufactory in Paris, so called from its founder, Jean Gobelin (1450). The state purchased the present site in 1662. Here are executed with the needle splendid specimens of carpets and tapestry. Some of the pieces of work have cost as much as £6,000, requiring the labor of 5 or 10 years. The building, looms, and many pieces of tapestry were destroyed by the Commune in 1871. Here were made the tapestries and carpets which adorn the various palaces, or have been presented to royal foreigners. "The famous manufactory of the Gobelins was established by Louis XIV., who purchased the premises of some clever dyers of that name (Gobelin) about 1666; and the productions of the Hôtel Royal des Gobelins are said to have attained the highest degree of perfection in the time of Louis's great minister, Colbert, and his successor, Louvois." L. Jewitt. God appearing to Noah. A fres co by Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520). In the Stanza of the Heliodorus, in the Vatican, Rome. Godolphin Park. The seat of the Duke of Leeds, near St. Breague, England. Gods, Feast of the. See FEAST OF THE GODS. God's Gift. A name given to Dulwich College, in England. The college was founded by Edward Alleyne, an actor in the age of Elizabeth. Goethe Monument. A magnifi cent bronze monument to the poet, modelled by the sculptor Schwanthaler (1802-1848), and standing in an open square in the |