and in the following year our author was preferred to the rectory of Lambeth, and made precentor and residentiary of the cathedral church of Chichester. Soon afterwards he was appointed master of the hospital of St. Mary, with licence to retain his precentorship, residentiaryship, and the rectory of Lambeth. In the year 1710 Dr. Gibson was promoted to the archdeaconry of Surrey; the duties of which he discharged with uncommon diligence, making not only general, but parochial visitations, not usual either in this or in other archdeaconries. In the year 1713 Dr. Gibson published his famous "Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani; or the Statutes, Constitution, Canons, Rubricks, and Articles of the Church of England, methodically digested under their proper Heads, &c." in folio. This work he is said to have formed and carried on under the encouragement of his patron, the archbishop, whose hints and directions he occasionally received for the improvement of it. It is a performance on which the learned author has bestowed vast labour and ingenuity; but the scheme of church power laid down in it, and the suggestions thrown out by the author respecting the desirable extension of clerical authority in all matters which concern spiritual persons and spiritual things, were not only excepted against by dissenters from the establishment, but by the soundest constitutional lawyers within the pale of the church; who maintained, that the principles and claims advanced in it, admitted in their utmost latitude, and in all their consequences, would be sufficient to establish a sacerdotal empire, which must infallibly draw all power to itself, and render the civil magistrate its minister and dependent. Upon the death of archbishop Tenison in 1715, and the translation of Dr.. Wake to Canterbury from the see of Lincoln, Dr. Gibson, in consequence of the recommendation of the new metropolitan, was nominated his successor, and consecrated towards the beginning of the following year. In 1721 our prelate was appointed dean of the royal chapel, and in 1723, upon the death of bishop Robinson, he was translated from Lincoln to the see of London. For this important situation in the church Dr. Gibson's abilities, and regular method in the conduct of business, peculiarly qualified him. So sensible were the ministry, at this time, of his talents and diligence,. that for several years, and more especially during the long declining state of health of archbishop Wake, almost every thing relating to the affairs of the church was, in a great measure, confided to the care of the bishop of Lon

don. Soon after his translation to this bishopric, he procured an endowment from the crown for a regular course of sermons on Sundays, to be preached in the royal chapel at Whitehall, by twelve clergymen of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, selected in equal numbers from each university, and appointed by the bishop of London for the time being. Afterwards he signalised his zeal for the ascendancy of the church, in the opposition which he made to the efforts of the protestant dissenters, for the purpose of obtaining from the liberality and justice of the legislature, a removal of the opprobrium and disability for civil offices to which they were subjected by the corporation and test acts. The same spirit he discovered in the steps taken by him to disappoint the Quakers, in the hopes which they had formed of obtaining relief under the prosecutions carried on against them for the recovery of tythes. A bill for this purpose received the sanction of the House of Commons, and was supported by the ministry; but it was thrown out of the House of Lords, in consequence of the petitions against it delivered in by the clergy, and the warm opposition of the bench of bishops, to which the advice and exertion of our prelate materially contributed. His lordship's proceedings on this occasion were, doubtless, influenced by what he conscientiously believed to be his duty on behalf of the establishment of which he was a member; but they gave such offence to sir Robert Walpole, then prime-minister, that from this time the bishop's interest and authority visibly declined. Hitherto, says Mr. Whiston, he had been long considered as heir apparent to the see of Canterbury; but his opposition to the court on the subject of the Quakers' bill, procured his exclusion from any such high pretensions. And this was farther confirmed by the zeal which he shewed against the promotion to an English bishopric of Dr. Rundle, chaplain to the lord-chancellor Talbot, on account of the liberality of his opinions, to which the more orthodox among the clergy were pleased to attach the suspicion of deism. He was also at this time rendered obnoxious to the men in power, by various intelligent and spirited attacks on the principles in his "Codex," which the authors contended were inimical to the civil constitution of this country, and favourable to a spirit of intolerance and persecution. One of the most able of these attacks was conducted by the recorder of Bristol, afterwards Mr. Justice Foster, at the instigation of lord Hardwicke, lord chief-justice of the Court of King's-bench; which has called for our

notice in the life of the former magistrate. His lordship is likewise said to have incurred the personal dislike of the king, on account of the becoming freedom with which he censured the taste for dissipation and vicious indulgence encouraged by the frequency of masquerades, in which his majesty took great delight, and of his procuring an address to the king from several of the bishops, praying for the entire suppression of such pernicious amusements. But not withstanding that the bishop had lost his influence at court, and that he met with many discouragements in checking the progress of immorality, yet he still persevered in that diligent exercise of the duties of his pastoral office, which appeared to him most likely to promote the best interests of religion and virtue. He wrote and printed several pastoral letters, addressed to the clergy and laity, intended to oppose the growth of infidelity and enthusiasm; as well as visitation charges, occasional sermons, and small tracts against the prevailing vices of the age. These last have been often reprinted in England, and also in Ireland, by the particular recommendation of archbishop Synge; and we are informed that, in the decline of his life, bishop Gibson received more satisfaction from the repeated calls for these practical pieces, than from the honours conferred on him by his larger works of a disciplinarian and controversial nature. His lordship's constitution was naturally strong and vigorous; but he had fairly worn it out by his laborious studies, and the business of various kinds with which much of his time was occupied. For some time before his death he was very sensible of his decay, and frequently complained of a languor which hung about him. He died at Bath in 1748, when about seventy-nine years of age, with true christian fortitude, and in perfect tranquillity of mind. To the particulars already mentioned respecting bishop Gibson's public character we have to add, that he possessed the social principles in an eminent degree, and that his beneficence and charity were very extensively, though privately, exercised. Mr. Whiston has recorded the following extraordinary instance of his generosity: that he freely gave two thousand five hundred pounds, which were left him by Dr. Crow, one of his chaplains, to Dr. Crow's own relations, who were in indigent circumstances. Besides the works which we have enumerated, his lordship printed a collection of Discourses published by Mr. Addison, and others of the laity, against atheism and infidelity, and in defence of the christian religion; which he introduced

with a well-written preface, exhibiting a concise view of the sentiments of Mr. Boyle, Mr. Locke, and sir Isaac Newton, concerning Christianity. He also made a collection of the best pieces that were written against Popery during the reign of king James II. and published them with a preface in 1738, in three volumes folio. For the titles and subjects of his occasional sermons, discourses, charges, &c. we refer to the Biog. Brit. British Biog.-M.

GIDEON, judge of Israel in the thirteenth century B.C. was the son of Joash, a person of some consideration in the tribe of Manasseh, who lived in the city of Ophrah. At the time when the memorable events in Gideon's life commenced, the Israelites had been for seven years oppressed and plundered by the Midianites, who made annual incursions into their country, wasting the fruits of the earth, and driving off the cattle, which the fugitive inhabitants were not able to secure in the mountainous districts. These calamities were suffered by Providence to be inflicted upon them, as a just punishment for their vices and idolatry; and when a spirit of reformation had begun to prevail, God was pleased to appoint Gideon to be the instrument of their deliverance, and restoration to a peaceable and flourishing condition. He was threshing his corn in a private place where it was concealed from the Midianites, when a divine messenger, clothed in human form, presented himself before him, and saluted him as the destined deliverer of Israel, who should be supernaturally directed in restoring their independence and security. Gideon appears at first to have taken the angel for one of his countrymen, and not only declared to him his disbelief that he should be favoured with any such supernatural aid, but seemed even to doubt of the divine interference on behalf of their fathers in preceding times, while he considered their present condition to be a sufficient proof of their being renounced and forsaken by God. He was soon satisfied, however, that the personage before him was the bearer of a divine commission; and every doubt respecting his own designation was dispelled, when the angel directed that the provision prepared for his entertainment should be placed upon an adjoining rock, from which he causedfire miraculously to proceed and consume the whole, and then instantaneously vanished. When Gideon had recovered from the surprise and dread which such circumstances must have created, by receiving assurances of the divine protection and support, he held himself in readiness to execute the orders of Heaven. The

first commission which he received was to destroy the altar and grove at Ophirah, consecrated to Baal. This task, owing to the gross superstition of his relations and fellow-citizens, he could only perform by night, with the aid of confidential servants. When in the morning the inhabitants discovered what had been done, and obtained intimation that Gideon was principally concerned in it, they tumultuously assembled before the house of Joash, and demanded that he should deliver up his son to be put to death, for his sacrilege against Baal. The old man, however, who had probably been convinced that his son had received a divine commission to deliver and reform the Israelites, boldly defended his cause, and by his reasonings and representations seems to have made them either ashamed or afraid of vindicating the honours of a pretended deity, who was incapable of inflicting vengeance on the violators of his sanctuary. On this occasion Gidcon acquired the surname of Ferubbaal, signifying either the enemy of Baal, or let Baal look to himself. Gideon's next commission was to disperse the army of the Midianites, Amalekites, and their allies, which in immense numbers had penetrated into the valley of Jezreel, with the intention of plundering and ravaging the country. For this purpose he collected a body of thirty-two thousand men from the tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulon, and Naphtali, with whom he advanced to meet the invading host, after having the certainty of his conquest over them confirmed by a repeated miracle. When he had approached near to the enemy, God, who determined that their defeat should be brought about in a manner that should unequivocally proclaim his signal interference, and not afford any occasion to the Israelites to ascribe it to their own numbers or valour, commanded Gideon to make proclamation through his army, that all those who entertained any apprehensions with respect to the issue of the contest, were at liberty to depart. Of this proclamation such numbers took advantage, that there remained but ten thousand with Gideon, who were resolved to venture their lives in the cause of their country. But even this body was declared more numerous than was necessary to put in execution the purpose of Heaven, and three hundred only were selected, by a trial which God appointed, who were to be Gideon's sole companions in producing the discomfiture of the confederates. Gideon now, at the divine suggestion, formed a strata-、 gem calculated to throw the vast host of his enemies into inextricable confusion; but before

he executed it, was instructed to reconnoitre their outposts, accompanied only by his servant. While he was employed on this business, he heard one soldier relate a dream, and another give an interpretation of it, which shewed that the impression already made on his enemy's minds was highly favourable to his projected enterprise. Upon this he returned immediately to his chosen troop, and dividing it into three companies, furnished each man with a trumpet, and an earthen pitcher containing a lamp or a torch, with directions to follow his example in the use of them. A little after midnight, these three companies were led towards different quarters of the enemy's camp; when at a concerted signal they brake their pitchers, displayed their lighted torches, sounded their trumpets, and shouted at intervals, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!" This stratagem produced an alarm and consternation in the enemy's camp, which involved them in complete ruin. For when, starting out of their sleep, they perceived the glare of the lights breaking in upon them on three several sides, and heard the continued sound of the trumpets, and the loud shouts of the different companies, they were filled with amazement and horror, and conceiving themselves surprised by a multitude of foes, their disorder became irretrievable. "And the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout the whole host." By the terror which had seized them they were rendered incapable of distinguishing their friends from their enemies, and, attacking each other, a dreadful slaughter ensued. The remains of the mighty host which escaped the carnage of this fatal night, fled on all sides; when Gideon commenced his pursuit of them, summoning the troops which had been disbanded to cut off their retreat, and calling upon the Ephraimites, and the other tribes nearest the scene of action, to join in completing their destruction. By the numbers of armed men who speedily crowded. to his banner, he was enabled to follow the fugitives on all their different routes, to capture or destroy their remaining forces, and to make prisoners of their princes and kings, whom he put to the sword, in just retribution of their cruelties and barbarities. By these memorable events the Israelites were restored to a state of freedom and security. So great was their gratitude towards their deliverer, that they would willingly have conferred upon him and his successors the hereditary supreme dominion of their country; but he refused that dignity, because it would have been an invasion of the rights of that theocratical government which

was established by their great legislator, and confined himself to the office of judge under that administration. He availed himself, however, of the credit which his late services had acquired him, to request a donation of the golden ear-rings and other valuable spoils which they had taken from their slaughtered foes. With this request they readily complied, and he made use of them in erecting a monument, or trophy, at Ophrah, to commemorate the extraordinary circumstances which had preceded and accompanied his triumph over the Midianites. Whether in this proceeding he was actuated by vanity, or ill-judged pious motives, the sacred text informs us that "The thing became a snare unto Gideon and his house." After his death it became the occasion of a new kind of idolatry among the Israelites, whose apostacy from the worship of the true God was accompanied with ingratitude to the family of their benefactor, the effects of which are detailed in the Scripture History. Gideon was judge of Israel for forty years, during which time none of their enemies dared to molest them; and he died in a good old age, about the year 1236, B.C. Book of Judges, ch. vi. vii. viii.

Anc. Un. Hist. vol. IV. b. i. ch. vii.-M.

GIFFEN, HUBERT (Latin, Obertus Gifanius), a lawyer and philologist, was a native of Buren, in the country of Gueldres. He studied at Louvain, Paris, and Orleans, at which last he graduated in law in 1567. He then went to Italy in the train of the French embassador to Venice; and afterwards visited Germany, where he taught philosophy and jurisprudence at Strasburg, Altdorf, and Ingoldstadt. He was a Protestant in his youth, but quitted that sect for the catholic religion previously to his being invited to the Imperial court, where the emperor Rodolph bestowed upon him the offices of counsellor and referendary. Being sent on a commission into Bohemia, he died at Prague in 1604, aged above seventy. Gifanius published several pieces relative to his own profession, but is better known by his philological labours. He gave notes and comments upon Homer, upon Aristotle's Politics and Ethics, and upon Lucretius. Of this last performance Mr. Wakefield says, that his comments are rather copious than exact, and that he was destitute of a correct judgment, though diligent and erudite. (Pref. ad edit. Lucret.) He was deeply engaged in some of the literary squabbles of the time, particularly with Lambinus, who accused him of being a plagiary. There are six Letters of this author in the "Sylloge Epist. Virorum Clariss." He wrote also." Comment. de Im

peratore Justiniano;" and "Index Histor. Rerum Romanarum." Bayle. Moreri. Freheri Theatr.-A.

GIGGEO, ANTHONY, a learned Italian ecclesiastic and oriental scholar, who flourished during the former part of the seventeenth century. He became a priest of the congregation of Oblati, founded by St. Charles Borromeo at Milan, and was admitted to the degree of doc tor by the Ambrosian college in that city. He was the author of a Latin translation of the "Commentaries of R. R. Solomon, Aben Ezza, and Levi- Gersom, on the Book of Proverbs," published at Milan in 1620, 4to.; and. he also drew up a "Chaldee and Targumic Grammar," adapted to the corrupted state of the Chaldee dialect in the later Targums, which is preserved in MS. in the Ambrosian. library. But the work which principally.contributed to his reputation was, "Thesaurus Linguæ Arabicæ, seu Lexicon Arabico-Latinum," 1632, in four volumes folio, which is held in great esteem. As a recompence for the learning and industry which it discovered, pope Urban VIII. nominated the author to an honourable post in the college de Propaganda. at Rome; but he died when on the point of setting out for that city, in the same year in which his grand work made its appearance. Landi's Hist. de la Lit. d'Italie, vol. V. liv. xiv. art. 2. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M.

GILBERT, sir HUMPHREY, one of the gallant adventurers of queen Elizabeth's reign,. was descended from an ancient family in Devonshire, where he was born about 1539. His mother, after becoming a widow, married Mr. Ralegh, by whom she had the celebrated sir Walter; so that these congenial spirits were half-brothers. Humphrey was educated at Eton and Oxford, but his disposition inclined him rather to an active than a literary life. He was early introduced to the court, and there acquired that ardour of loyalty which was the ruling passion of those who approached the person of the maiden queen. He first bore arms in the expedition to Havre in 1563; and in that and several subsequent enterprises he so well approved his courage and conduct, that he was sent over to Ireland to assist in quelling the disorders of that country, and rose there to the chief command. in the province of Munster. As a reward for his successful services he received knighthood in 1570, from the lord deputy Sydney, and then returned to England, where he married an heiress of good fortune. In 1571 he served as a burgess in parliament for Plymouth. On this occasion his panegyrist in the Biog. Britan..