his life), who was punished with perpetual banishment. The two principal ministers of France and England, Fleury and Walpole, being both pacifically inclined, preserved a good understanding between the two countries, even after the death of the duke of Orleans, and prevented the repose of Europe from being disturbed to any considerable degree for many years. Many treaties, indeed, were negociated between the different powers for the alleged purpose of maintaining that nice point, the balance of power, but in which they had usually private ends in view. That of George was fundamentally the safety of his German territories, to which the interests of Great Britain were supposed on various occasions to be sacrificed. A treaty in 1725 between the emperor and the king of Spain excited his jealousy so much, that he counteracted it by another at Hanover, comprising most of the European powers; and he sent a fleet to the West Indies under admiral Hosier in order to block up the Spanish galleons at Portobello. The death of the admiral and most of his crew from disease, while restrained from acting offensively, was considered as one of the inglorious disasters of the reign. The Spaniards then besieged Gibraltar, but all differences were finally settled by a negociation. While this was going on, the king, who had set out on a journey to the Continent, was seized on the road with a paralytic attack, of which he died at Osnabrug on June 11, 1727, in the sixtyeighth year of his age, and thirteenth of his reign. George I. was plain and simple in his appearance, grave and sedate in his manner, but easy and familiar among his intimates, in whose society he was fond of relaxing from the cares of state. He possessed much natural prudence and good sense, and well understood his interests, at least as far as the objects nearest his heart were concerned. He had female favourites, but was not governed by them. Though he seems to have had little relish for literature, yet the two English universities are indebted to him for the foundation of a professorship of modern history in each.-A.

GEORGE-AUGUSTUS II. king of Great Britain, son of George I. was born in 1683. He married in 1705 Wilhelmina-DorotheaCharlotta of Brandenburg-Anspach, and Came to England in 1714 with his father, where he received the rank and title of prince of Wales. He was regent during the king's absence in 1716; but a difference afterwards taking place between them, he lived for some time in a state of estrangement from the court. This was,

however, accommodated, and he occupied the station of heir-apparent, when, on his father's death in 1727, he succeeded to the throne. The same ministers and system of politics continued to govern the nation, which was divided by the same parties. As the sovereign himself exerted a small personal influence over the events of his long and busy reign, a very brief sketch of public transactions will suffice for a biographical narration. He inherited in full force his predecessor's attachment to his German interests, which occasionally swayed the councils of his cabinet, though imperious circumstances often obliged it to give way to other considerations. Europe was for a time pacified by the treaties of Seville and Vienna, the latter of which guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction, or law by which the female heirs of the emperor Charles VI. were to succeed to the hereditary dominions of Austria. In 1732 Walpole introduced into parliament the financial scheme of a great extension of the excise; but the violent opposition it met with from the nation obliged him to relinquish it. Most of its provisions have since been adopted. Liberty was abridged in 1737 by a bill for limiting the number of playhouses, and submitting dramatic writings to the inspection of the lord-chamberlain. Disputes had long prevailed between Spain and England on account of the trade carried on in the West Indies by their respective subjects. The English had persevered in an illicit traffic, which the Spanish government had restrained by the establishment of guardacostas to search all trading ships, and by frequent seizures of the settlers on the bay of Campeachy, attended with much severity. Violent complaints had been made in parliament of the cruelty and injustice of such proceedings, and ministers were highly censured for their neglect in procuring redress. At length, in 1739, a convention between the two courts was signed, for the purpose of compromising the differences; but its terms were so little satisfactory to the traders, that Walpole found himself obliged by their clamours to prepare for hostilities. War with Spain accordingly took place in that year, and the nation was gratified with the capture of Portobello by Vernon. Anson (see his life) was sent upon an expedition into the South-seas; and a powerful fleet and army were employed for the reduction of Carthagena. This enterprise through mismanagement entirely failed, and such were the discontents that prevailed through the nation, that Walpole, in 1742, was obliged to resign. Mean

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time the death of the emperor Charles VI. had roused the cupidity of France and other powers to strip his daughter Maria-Theresa of her inheritance. George II. as a guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction, declared in her favour, and an English army was sent to the Continent to support her cause. This was augmented by a body of Hanoverians in British pay; and the king, who possessed much military ardour, joined the army under the command of the earl of Stair, in June, 1743. The battle of Dettingen soon followed, in which the French, through the inconsiderate ardour of one of their generals, sustained a defeat, after they had reduced the allied army to a situation of imminent dan The victors, however, were obliged to resign the field of battle, and leave their wounded to the care of their foes. In this action the king displayed great personal bravery, but he prevented lord Stair from pursuing the fugitives as he proposed. That general soon after resigned in disgust; and the command of the allied army was entrusted to the king's second son, the duke of Cumberland, in whom the courage of a soldier ill compensated the want of talents as a general. He lost the bloody battle of Fontenoi in 1744, and the French maintained an undoubted superiority in Flanders during the rest of the war. Though the chance of effecting a change in the throne was now much lessened by time, yet a large number of disaffected persons, attached by principle to the exiled family, still remained in the kingdom. The more sanguine of this party, urged by illusory promises from France, gave an invitation to the young Pretender to try his fortune in a descent in the northern part of the island, where he might expect an immediate declaration in his favour on the part of the highland chiefs. Accordingly, he embarked on board of a French frigate, and landed on the Scotch coast in July, 1745. He was received with affection, and joined by several of the clans, with whom he procceded southwards, continually adding to his small army. He proclaimed his father king at Perth, took possession of Edinburgh, defeated a body of the royal troops at Preston-pans, and at length marched into England, where he had assurances of being powerfully reinforced. He penetrated without opposition as far as Derby; but found the people, though panic-struck, little inclined to support his cause. In the mean time the duke of Cumberland had arrived with several regiments from Flanders, and bodies of troops were collecting on all sides to oppose and intercept the invaders. It was therefore determined in the Pretender's council to make

a retreat, which was effected without loss. His arms were again successful in a skirmish at Falkirk; but at length the duke of Cumberland uniting his force, came up with the insurgents at Culloden near Inverness; and obtained an easy victory on April 17, 1746, which entirely put an end to the rebellion. The young adventurer with great difficulty made his escape back to France, and the blood of his adherents flowed copiously from the scaffold. During these events the king received numerous demonstrations of attachment to his person and family, and it appeared that the greater part of the nation had indissolubly connected the interests of religion and liberty with the support of those principles which called the house of Hanover to the throne. The treaty of Aix-laChapelle in 1748 brought to conclusion a war which upon the whole had been little successful to England. Its conditions, as usual, were greatly censured, but the people welcomed the return of peace as a relief from their burthens. In 1751 died Frederic prince of Wales. He had lived a considerable time at variance with his father, which had thrown him into the opposition party, and made him the avowed patron of those popular maxims of government which aim at the restriction of supreme power, in whatever hands. Hence he had received the incense of poets and other writers on the side of liberty, and fond hopes had been entertained of the patriotism of his future reign. He was an amiable and well-disposed prince, but possessed of little strength of character. He had made his peace with the court after Walpole's dismission.

Between two such powerful and ambitious nations as France and England, whose interests in many points were involved with each other, friendship was not likely to be durable. In the East Indies they were almost constantly embroiled as allies to the contending native powers. But it was in the wilds of North America, amid the undefined limits of tracts originally usurped by both parties from the savage proprietors, that a new quarrel openly broke out. From the military constitution of the French colony of Canada, and the enterprising character of its governors, it seems probable that encroachments really began on their side, though the accusations were mutual. After various fruitless remonstrances from the English court, hostilities began in America in 1755, and open war between the two nations in Europe took place in the ensuing year. The events of this war, in which the principa powers of Europe became engaged, which was carried on in all quarters of the globe, and

finally raised Great Britain to the pinnacle of power and glory, would require the limits of a history for their narration, and have small connection with the biography of the sovereign. To his apprehensions for the safety of his German dominions may, indeed, be imputed the alliance formed with the king of Prussia, and the employment of a large proportion of the military force of the country in continental warfare. This was the least glorious part of the public transactions; for the duke of Cumberland, at the head of a Hanoverian army, was obliged to capitulate to the French, who took possession of the whole electorate; and though they were afterwards expelled by prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, who exhibited great military talents, and obtained occasional victories, yet, upon the whole, he was reduced to act an inferior and defensive part. During the first years of the war the events were for the most part unfavourable to England; and so low was its spirit, that foreign troops were summoned to defend it from a menaced invasion. But when, in place of a weak and divided ministry, the great William Pitt was by the voice of the people called to the principal direction of affairs, and the martial character of the nation was roused to full exertion, success followed success in a rapid series. The French power in the East Indies was annihilated. In America, the reduction of Louisbourg was followed by that of Quebec and the whole province of Canada. The island of Guadaloupe, and the settlement of Senegal, fell under the British dominion; and the battle of Minden exalted the reputation of British valour. The navy of England reigned triumphant over the seas, while that of France was reduced to insignificance. Still the German war was unpopular, and ministers were blamed for the sacrifices they made in that respect to the supposed personal wishes of the king. In this state of affairs George II. suddenly died, from the uncommon circumstance of a rupture of the right ventricle of the heart, which, without previous illness or suffering, terminated his life on October 25, 1760, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, and thirty-third of his reign. He was a prince of very moderate abilities, and destitute of every ornament from science or literature, which he neither understood nor patron ised. He was hasty and somewhat obstinate in his temper, and carried frugality to the borders of meanness Yet a natural goodness of heart, a love of justice, and an honest openness of disposition, conciliated the affection of his

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people, and have inspired respect and veneration for his memory.-A.

GEORGE OF TREBISOND (Latin Trapezuntius), a learned modern Greek, was born in 1395 in the isle of Crete, but of a family originally from Trebisond, from which place he chose to take his designation. He came to Italy some time before 1420, and learned the Latin language under Vittorino da Feltre, who was also the master of his countryman Theodore Gaza. His patron was Francis Barbaro, a noble of Venice, and a great promoter of letters, through whose means he was invited to a professorship of Greek at Vicenza; which after some time he was obliged to quit, in consequence, as he affirms, of the ill offices of Guarino. Thence he removed to Venice, where he acquired great reputation as a grammarian and instructor in Grecian eloquence. He remained in that city probably till about 1437, when he obtained an invitation from pope Eugenius IV. to settle at Rome. During the time of that pontiff he was occupied in teaching rhetoric and philosophy, and also in translating several ancient Greek authors into Latin. Pope Nicholas V. continued to employ him in translation, and also created him his secretary. Under his munificent patronage George might have lived happily, had not his arrogant and choleric temper involved him in quarrels with several of the learned men at the papal court, among whom were Guarino, Gaza, and Poggio. With the latter he came to blows in public, and the interference of the other apostolic secretaries was requisite to part them. He also offended the pope by some of his translations, so that he was enjoined to depart from Rome. He took refuge in 1452 at Naples, where he was graciously received by king Alphonso; yet he did not experience much liberality from this prince, since we find him at this period complaining of want of means for sustaining his family, which consisted of two sons and five daughters. His friend Filelfo endeavoured to reconcile the pope to him, and it is probable that he returned to Rome. In 1459 he was at Venice, where he presented to the doge his version of Plato's Book on Laws, and was engaged as a professor of belles-lettres. From that city he sailed in 1464 to his native island of Crete, and thence passed to Constantinople. Upon his return to Italy he found his old scholar Paul II. in the pontifical chair, which induced him again to visit Rome. From some.unknown cause, however, he incurred the displeasure of the pope, who imprisoned him for four montha

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in the castle of St. Angelo. He was at that time much debilitated by age, yet he lived many years longer, and survived his faculties. The year of his decease is not exactly known, but it was probably about 1480.

George of Trebisond was a very voluminous writer, and contributed largely towards the introduction of Greek literature in the West. He translated into Latin Eusebius's Evangelic Preparation; several works of Cyril of Alexandria, of Gregory Nyssen, of Nazianzen, and of John Chrysostom; many pieces of Aristotle, Plato on Laws, Ptolemy's Almagest and Centiloquium, and an oration of Demosthenes. His translations were at first in great esteem; but since a more accurate knowledge of the Greek has obtained, they have been found very deficient in exactness and fidelity, the writer frequently omitting, altering and adding, at his pleasure, without regard to his original. He also composed many works; of which are "De Arte Rhetorica, Lib. V;" first printed at Venice in 1470;" Reflections and Commentaries on some Orations of Cicero;" "Letters," "Orations," and many pieces in controversy. He was a warm advocate for the re-union of the Greek with the Latin church. His "Comparison of Aristotle and Plato" is full of vehement invective against the latter, by which he gave great offence to the Platonists, particularly to cardinal Bessarion, who wrote an answer to him. Many of his writings still remain in MS. His Latin style was impure, and much inferior to that of his rival Gaza. Hodii Græc. illustr. Tiraboschi.-A.

GERARD, surnamed according to some authors THOм, and according to others TUNG or TENQUE, the founder and first grand-master of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, was a native of the isle of Martigues, on the coast of Provence. While Jerusalem was in the hands of the Saracens, some merchants of Amalfi, a town in the Neapolitan territory, obtained permission from the sultan of Egypt and Syria, in the year 1050, to erect a benedictine monastery near the holy sepulchre, for the convenience of the numerous pilgrims who came to visit it. Among others, Gerard arrived to pay his devotions in the holy city, where he acquired a high character with the Christians for his piety and prudence. The fanaticism of the times occasioning the number of pilgrims to increase every year, by which means the treasury of the monastery received considerable supplies, the abbot was enabled, in the year 1080, to build a hospital for the reception of the poorer pilgrims, and with accommodations for the relief

of the sick, the management of which he gave to Gerard. The chapel of that hospital was consecrated to St. John, because of a tradition among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that Zecharias, the father of St. John, had lived on the spot where it was built. After the conquest of Jerusalem by the Christians, under Godfrey of Bouillon, Gerard projected the foundation of a new religious order, in which the ecclesiastical and military characters were to be blended. This design he began to carry into execution in the year 1100, when numbers of persons associated with him under the denomination of "Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem," who, besides the three vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, took a particular vow to devote themselves to the relief of all Christians in distress. This order, and the rules drawn up for its government, were approved and confirmed by pope Paschal II., who, by a bull which he issued, granted it various considerable privileges, and recognised Gerard as the first grand-master. Gerard died in the year 1120. Such was the commencement of that order which in succeeding times became so celebrated in history, when its members were commonly known by the name of Knights of Rhodes, and afterwards by that of Knights of Malta. Moreri.-M.

GERARD, JOHN, a learned and celebrated German lutheran divine who flourished in the seventeenth century, was born at Quedlinburg in Saxony, in the year 1582. He filled the chair of theological professor at the university of Jena for many years, with distinguished success and reputation, and died in the year 1637. He was the author of a great number of works, the principal of which were: "Commentaries," on Genesis, Deuteronomy, the Epistles of St. Peter, and the Apocalypse: "The Catholic Confession :" "A Harmony of the Four Evangelists," in three volumes folio, left by him in an unfinished state, and completed by MM. Chemnitz and Lyserus, who published it in 1646: a collection of "Common Places," in theology; a work in which he has treated of the lives and writings of the authors of the primitive church, &c. Moreri. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M.

GERARD, JOHN, another learned German lutheran divine and professor, was born at Jena, in the year 1621. He was educated in his native place, where he went through the usual course of academic studies, and then went to Altdorf, in 1640, for the sake of receiving farther instructions in the Oriental languages. In the year 1643 he had the degree of M.A. conferred upon him at the university of