the new king, not without some severe reflections on the misgovernment of the deposed one, He appears to have been in affluent circumstances; for he contributed largely to the rebuilding of the conventual church of St. Mary Overee, in Southwark. He had the misfortune to lose his sight in the first year of Henry IV., which he did not long survive, dying at a great age, in 14c2. His tomb is still to be seen in the church to which he was a benefactor.

Gower is entitled to a place among English writers only relatively to the time in which he lived; for though well furnished with the learning (such as it was) of the age, and a success ful cultivator of his native language, he has not the least pretensions to genius or invention. He is uniformly grave and sententious, even upon topics which might inspire vivacity; whence he has been characterised by his friend Chaucer, as "the moral Gower." He was the author of three volumes, or a tripartite work, entitled Speculum Meditantis;" " Vox Clamantis;" "Confessio Amantis." Of these, the first, or the "Mirror of Meditation," is a moral tract in ten books, relative to the conjugal duties, written in French rhymes. The second, or "Voice of one crying in the Wilderness,' is chiefly a metrical chronicle of the insurrection of the commons under Richard II, in Latin elegiac verse. The third, or "Lover's Confession," is an English poem in eight books, relative to the morals and metaphysics of love. This alone has been printed; and such was its reputation, that it was one of the earliest products of the English press, being set forth by Caxton in 1483. It would be occupying our pages to little purpose to give an analysis of this work, which has all the dryness and the idle display of incoherent learning that characterised the scholastic period. "It seems (says Mr. Warton) to have been his object to crowd all his erudition into this elaborate performance;" accordingly, together with moral maxims and sentimental refinements, there are discourses on the Hermetic science and the Aristotelic philosophy. The most interesting part of this motley work is a variety of stories adduced as moral examples, and taken from the authors then most in vogue, ancient and modern. The writer, however, falls into some very extraordinary anachronisms and mistakes, which may be pardoned in the infancy of revived literature. The language of this piece is reckoned tolerably perspicuous, and the versification often harmonious. With respect to his Latin style, Mr. Warton gives him the credit of copying Ovid's Elegiacs with some degree of

purity. He had not, however, got over the barbarism of monkish rhymes. Biog. Britan. Warton's Hist. of Engl. Poetry.-A.

GRAAF, or GRAEF, REGNER DE, a physician and celebrated anatomist, was born at Schoonhoven, in Holland, in 1641. His father, Cornelius, an architect, distinguished himself by the invention of several hydraulic machines. Regner was brought up to physic, and studied first at Leyden, under James Sylvius, and then in France, where he graduated at Angers in 1665. He settled at Delft, and became eminent in practice; but was cut off at the early age of thirty-two, in 1673. His death was imputed to vexation, from the controversies in which he was engaged with Swammerdam. De Graaf's first publication was, "De Succi Pancreatici Natura & Usu," Leyd. 1664, 12m0: in which he appeared as a warm partisan of the doctrine of his master Sylvius, concerning the fermentation of the pancreatic juice with the bile. He next published, "De Virorum Organis Generationi inservientibus," 1668, 8vo.: a work which gained him great anatomical reputation. His dissections, indeed, had not been numerous, and his figures were drawn from parts taken out of their natural situations; yet he contributed much to a more accurate description of the parts treated of, and his delineations of them were more elegant than any before given. In this work he was the first who gave representations of the tubes for anatomical injection; an art in which he was very expert, and which he greatly improved. In 1672 he published "De Mulierum Organis Generationi inservientibus," 8vo.: a work containing much that is new and valuable. He maintained in it the ovarian system of generation, and gave figures of the corpora lutea, and the foetus in different states of progress. A short time before his death, in 1673, he published "Partium Genitalium Defensio," in which he asserts his own claims to discovery, in opposition to those of Swammerdam, and adds some new anatomical observations. All the works of De Graaf have been printed together in 8vo.: Leyd. 16775 Lond. 1678; Amst. 1705. Moreri. Halleri Bibl. Anatom.—A.

GRABE, JOHN-ERNEST, a learned divine, and editor of the Alexandrian MS. in the Royal Library at London, was born at Koningsberg, in Prussia, in the year 1666. He received his education at the university in his native town, and when he had taken his degree of M.A. sedulously applied himself to the study of divinity, and to the perusal of the writings of the fathers. From the latter he imbibed the

opinion that the outward and uninterrupted succession of bishops is essential to the being of a true church; which, as it is contrary to the tenets of Lutheranism, occasioned his being summoned before his superiors, and confined for several months. Upon his release, becoming still more firmly attached to that doctrine, he determined to quit the communion in which he had been educated, and to embrace that of Rome, of which it is one fundamental principle. In pursuance of this resolution, he delivered in a memorial to the electoral college at Sambia, in Prussia, in 1695, containing his reasons for his intended change; and immediately departed from Koningsberg, that he might be at liberty to carry it into execution, in some place where he should be beyond the reach of the Prussian jurisdiction. While he was on the road to Erfurt, through which he meant to pass to some catholic country, the elector of Brandenburg sent three treatises to him, written in answer to his memorial by three Prussian divines, by order of the elector. This attention in his sovereign met with due respect from M. Grabe, who perused the treatises with great care, and found reasonings in them which staggered him in his resolution of embracing popery, though they did not contribute to alter his sentiment respecting uninterrupted succession. Being willing, however, to discuss the points in question more closely before he formed his ultimate determination, he wrote to M. Spener, one of his answerers, intimating his wish to return to Berlin, that he might enjoy the benefit of a conference with him, provided that he could procure him a safe conduct. This favour being readily granted, M. Grabe went to that city, where he was soon prevailed upon to relinquish his purpose of joining the papal communion; but still maintained the obnoxious tenet which had formerly subjected him to imprisonment. Finding him immoveable upon this point, M. Spener advised him to remove to England. "There," said this friend," you will meet with the outward and uninterrupted succession which you want: take then your route thither: this step will give much less uneasiness to your friends, and at the same time equally satisfy your conscience." With this advice M. Grabe complied, and arriving in England, was so strongly recommended to King William, that his Majesty granted him a pension of 100l. ayear, to enable him to pursue his studies. From this time he adopted England for his country, because he conceived that its ecclesiastical constitution approached nearer, on the whole, than that of any other, to the primitive pattern;

YOL. IV.

and he shewed that he was not unworthy of the patronage which he received, by the attention and industry which he bestowed on the publication of several learned works. Having formed a design of printing some curious and scarce pieces of the fathers, in defence of his opinions, which in several points corresponded with the favourite notions of the nonjuring separatists, he went to Oxford, to examine the treasures of the Bodleian Library. In the year 1698 he published "Spicilegium S.S. Patrum, &c." vol. I. 8vo.; containing the lesser works and fragments from the writings of the catholic fathers and heretics of the first century, with dissertations and remarks; and in the following year, the second volume of the same work, comprising similar extracts from writers of the second and third centuries, with dissertations, &c. Some of the pieces in this collection he considered to be doubtful and apocryphal; but he endeavoured to establish the genuineness of others, which have been appealed to by the advocates for some of the superstitious tenets of popery, and which have been proved to be supposititious by some of the most learned and judicious critics of modern times. In the year 1700 Mr. Grabe was ordained a deacon of the church of England, and was presented to a chaplaincy of Christ-church, Oxford. This presentation he appears to have received, in order that he might be entitled to the emoluments, without being required to discharge the duties, of the appointment. When he was ordained deacon, he refused to receive the sacrament, on account of the omission of the prayer in the communion service mentioning the sacrifice before receiving the elements, which was inserted in the first Common-prayer Book of king Edward VI.; and he ever afterwards continued his nonconformity to the established church in that particular. If, therefore, he was at all ordained a priest, as Dr. Hickes says he was, it must have been by some of the nonjuring prelates. In the same year in which he took orders, Mr. Grabe published "S. Justini Philosophi & Martyris Apologia Prima pro Christianis, &c." 8vo., illustrated with the notes of several learned men, and additional remarks of his own; and in 1702 he published "S. Irenæi Episcopi Lugdunensis contra omnes Hæreses, Libri quinque, &c." folio, with prolegomena, notes, &c.

Upon the accession of queen Anne to the throne, our author's pension was continued, and her majesty was advised to employ him on an undertaking which reflected great ho nour on himself, and on the patronage by which he was enabled to complete it: that was 32

to print, from the Alexandrian MS. in the royal library, the Septuagint translation of the "Old Testament. When the queen informed him that he was selected to perform this task, she presénted him with a purse, as a preliminary encouragement to his exertions. In the year 1705, Mr. Grabe published his proposals for printing that work by subscription, annexed to an account which he had drawn up of the superior value of this copy to the Vatican MS. accompanied with three specimens, containing so many different methods for the intended edition, in the choice of which he was to be determined by the learned world. In the following year, the university of Oxford, as testimony of their approbation of his design, honoured him with the degree of doctor of divinity. His proposals were very favourably received, both at home and abroad; and in addition to the queen's bounty, he received a present from his own sovereign, the king of Prussia, together with subscriptions from the principal nobility, clergy, and gentry, from all parts. Animated by these encouragements, he proceeded with diligence and spirit in his undertaking, and in the year 1707 produced the first volume of his work, under the title of "Vetus Testamentum juxta Septuaginta Interpretes; Tomus I. continens Octateuchum, &c." in folio and 8vo. This volume contains the Pentateuch and the three following books. -According to the order which the author had adopted, the second volume was to contain all the historical books of the Old Testament, whether canonical or apocryphal; the third, all the prophetical books; and the fourth, the Psalms, the three books of Solomon, &c. But after he had begun to print the second volume, he was induced to postpone the appearance of that, and also of the third volume, by the expectation of being furnished with important MSS. and other materials, which would enable him to render them more complete. That no time might be lost, however, in expediting the whole work, he published in 1709 the fourth volume, "continens Psalmorum, Jobi, ac tres Salamonis Libros, cum Apocrypha Ejusdem, necnon Siracide Sapientia," in folio and 8vo. In the following year he published a Latin dissertation, giving a particular account of the reasons why he had departed from his original order of publication, and of the helps which he expected to receive in order to perfect his plan. These were, a Syriac MS. of the historical books of the Old Testament, with Origen's remarks upon them; and two MSS. one belonging to Cardinal Chigi, and the other to the college

of Lewis XIV. Afterwards he received these MSS. and made collations from them; while in the mean time he had prepared a volume of annotations upon the whole work, and also collected the materials for the Prolegomena. It required, however, so much time to digest the whole into proper method, that the second and third volumes were not published till after the author's death; the former in 1719, and the latter in 1720. While Mr. Grabe was employed in preparing these volumes for the press, he understood that Mr. Whiston had intimated, both in private conversation and in his writings, that he was "nearly of his mind about the constitution of the apostles, written by St. Clement, and that he owned in general the genuine truth and apostolical authority of this collection." In order to satisfy his friends and the public respecting his real sentiments on these points, he published, in the year 1711, “An Essay upon the two Arabic MSS. in the Bodleian Library, and that ancient Book called the Doctrine of the Apostles, which is said to be extant in them, wherein Mr. Whiston's Mistakes about both are plainly proved," 8vo. In the last of our subjoined authorities the reader may find a particular account of this treatise, as well as of Mr. Whiston's remarks. upon it, and other pieces on the same subject. In the dedication of it the author observes, that it was the first treatise which he had published in the English tongue for the service of the church; and it proved to be the last, for he died in 1712, in the forty-fifth year of his age. He was attended in his last illness by Dr. afterwards bishop, Smalridge, who has left an ample testimony to the morality and piety of his character. He desired on his death-bed, that the public might be informed that he died in the faith and communion of the church of England, though he considered its constitution to be defective in some points, in which he thought the nonjuring clergy adhered more closely to the apostolical doctrine and discipline. His learning was, unquestionably, considerable; and of his great industry his various productions within the short space of fourteen years afford abundant evidence. Dr. Styan Thirlby, in the dedication of his edition of Justin's Apology, informs us that Dr. Grabe" was a good man and not unlearned, and well versed in the writings of the fathers. But he was no critic, nor could be one, since he was not furnished with genius or judgment, or, to speak the truth, with learning sufficient for that purpose." In this opinion of Dr. Grabe's qualifications, Le Clerc coincides; and adds,

that his books gained him the character of a laborious person, rather than of a great critic. Dr. Grabe's zeal for what he considered to be the primitive discipline and government of the church, induced him to form a project for rendering the lutheran church of Prussia episcopal, after the model of the church of England; and to recommend the English liturgy itself, by means of some of his friends, to a certain neighbouring court. Besides the pieces already mentioned, he published in 1705, an elegant cdition of bishop Bull's Latin works, in folio, with his own notes, which procured him the thanks of that prelate; assisted in preparing for the press archdeacon Gregory's pompous edition of the New Testament in Greek, which was printed in the same year; and in 1706, published a preface to Daubuz's "Pro Testimonio Flavii Josephi de Jesu Christo, Libri duo." He also left behind him a number of MSS. of which the following were afterwards given to the world: "Liturgia Græca Johannis Ernesti Grabe," subjoined to Christopher Matthew Pfaff's edition of "Irenæi Fragmenta Anecdota," printed at the Hague, in 1715, 8vo. ; and "De Forma Consecrationis Eucharisticæ, hoc est, Defensio Ecclesiæ Græcæ, &c." published with an English version, and notes, &c. at London, 1721, 8vo. For an account of the rest, we refer to the Biog. Brit. and Gen. Dict.-M.

GRACCHUS, TIBERIUS SEMPRONIUS, a person highly memorable in the political history of Rome, was the son of a father of the same name, a distinguished commander and excellent citizen, who, though of plebeian descent, had arrived at the consulate. His mother was the celebrated Cornelia, daughter of the first Scipio Africanus, the pride of Roman matrons (see her article). Tiberius received every advantage of education that the age could bestow, and a happy natural disposition seconded the efforts of tuition. In temper he was mild, composed, and modest; in his tastes, simple and moderate. He early distinguished himself for eloquence, sobriety, and political knowledge; and his reputation was sealed by admission into the vener-, able college of augurs. A proof of his high character was given by the spontaneous offer made him by Appius Claudius, one of the most illustrious persons in Rome, and president of the senate, of his daughter Claudia in marriage, which he thankfully accepted. It is said, that, on this occasion, Appius, returning to his own house, informed his wife that he had contracted their daughter." Why so suddenly ?" replied Antistia; " you might have taken time, even were Tiberius Gracchus the man!" In con

formity with the Roman custom, Tiberius' pass ed his youth in military service; first, in Africa, under his brother-in-law, the younger Scipio, with whom he lived in the same tent. By his valour and strict attention to discipline he obtained great credit in the army, and was equally beloved and esteemed by his fellowoflicers. In the Numantian war he was ques➡ tor to the consul C. Hostinus Mancinus, B.C., 137. The campaign of this consul proved a most unfortunate one, and the Roman general, after a severe defeat, was reduced to negociate a treaty with the Numantines in order to save the relics of his army. That people, who had been basely betrayed in a former treaty with the Romans, refused to trust any one except Tiberius Gracchus, with whose character for probity they were well acquainted, and the peace was accordingly concluded by his mediation. He afterwards obtained the restoration of hisbook of questor's accounts which had been taken by the Numantines in their, plunder of the camp; and upon visiting their city, he was treated with great respect, and was offered any part of the booty he chose: he, however, accepted only a box of incense for sacrifice. The, peace with Numantia, though as favourable to, the Romans as from circumstances could be expected, was received by that haughty people, with great indignation as a public disgrace; and, it was resolved by the senate that it should be annulled, with the frivolous ceremony of deli-. vering up to the Numantines those who had been instrumental in making it. The consul Mancinus was accordingly given up to them, naked and in chains; but the strong family-interest and popularity of Gracchus saved him; from a like fate. It is thought, however, that, a sense of the injustice of the senate on this occasion, and resentment of the dishonour they had thrown upon his treaty, was a principali cause of the subsequent hostilities in, which he engaged against that body.

The condition of the Roman people at this. period offered, indeed, ample scope either for the ambitious designs of a demagogue, or for the reforming schemes of a patriot. By a long series of usurpations, the patricians and men of opulence had appropriated to themselves all the public lands, in total contempt of the Licinian law, which had forbidden any citizen to possess more than five hundred acres. Almost all Italy, was cultivated by the slaves of the nobility, and the lower class of Roman citizens was aban-, doned to a state of abject poverty. Lælius, surnamed the Wise, the friend of Scipio, had, attempted to introduce some remedy for the

evil, but the opposition of men in power had deterred him from persisting in his plans. Tiberius Gracchus now resolved to take up the deserted cause. Of his motives different judgments have been made according to party prepossessions, but it is generally admitted that his first steps were marked by equity and moderation. Having procured himself to be elected a tribune of the people, he proposed a revival of the Licinian law, but with modifications which greatly softened its operation. Indeed, in framing his bill, he had consulted with his father-in-law and with other eminent senators. It offered a full compensation out of the treasury for all the land above the allowed five hundred acres which any one might be obliged to resign to the public, and permitted every child of a family to hold two hundred and fifty acres above the five hundred held in the father's name. Such, however, was the horror entertained by the superior orders of an agrarian law however qualified, that they gave every possible opposition to the proposal of Gracchus. On his part, he was not backward in rousing the people to an assertion of their rights, and in his orations he made use of topics which their speciousness rendered peculiarly dangerous. "The wild beasts of Italy," says he, "have their caves and dens, but the brave men who shed their blood in her cause have nothing but air and light. It is mere mockery when their generals exhort them to fight for their sepulchres and household gods, when perhaps not a man among them is possessed of a domestic altar or sepulchre of his ancestors. The private men bleed and die to secure the luxuries of the great, and they are termed masters of the world whilst they are not owners of a foot of ground." How few are the governments in which such addresses would not strike home upon the breasts of the majority!

The nobles, unsuccessful in refuting the arguments of Gracchus, attempted to excite suspicions of his designs, and attacked him with the usual calumny of a wish to make himself king. When this failed, and the day of deciding upon his law arrived, they persuaded one of the tribunes, by name Marcus Octavius Cæcina, a young man of character, and a former friend of Gracchus, to interpose his negative. As this obstacle was legally unsurmountable, Gracchus in presence of the people conjured him in the most impressive manner to drop his opposition, but without effect. He then took a step which the strange constitution of Rome, it seems, allowed to any tribune when a law of his proposing was stopt in its progress by chi

canery; that of suspending all the magistrates from the execution of their offices. This expedient, though it threw affairs into confusion, and excited great alarms among the men of property, did not answer the purpose; on the contrary, party contention on both sides rose higher than ever. At length Gracchus was driven to a measure which may be reckoned his first deviation from the principle of rectitude. He proposed to the people a decree for depriving his colleague Octavius of his office, and their votes confirming it, he caused him to be pulled down from the tribunal, not without danger to his life from the enraged multitude. The agrarian law then passed without farther opposition; and Appius Claudius, Tiberius Gracchus, and his younger brother Caius, were the commissioners appointed to carry its provisions into execution. They spent the whole summer in travelling through the provinces of Italy in order to examine the state of the landed property. Meantime the hatred of the nobles continued to pursue the author of the obnoxious measure, and on the return of Tiberius from his progress, he found his principal agent dead, with a strong suspicion of being poisoned. He put himself in mourning, and used some art to excite in the people apprehensions of his personal danger. He also carried a degree farther his attack upon the nobles, by adding to his law a clause for resuming all usurpations upon the republic. This was, in fact, rendering almost all the property of old families insecure. The difficulties it occasioned were, however, suspended by the circumstance of the death of Attalus king of Pergamus, who made the Roman people his heirs. Gracchus took advantage of it, and procured a law for the distribution of his treasures among the poor citizens for whom there were no lands; and for the disposal of the revenues of Pergamus not by the senate, but by the assembly of the people. The influence he thus acquired inspired him with the design of securing himself and his power by raising his father-in-law to the consulate, his brother to the tribuneship, and continuing to himself the same office for another year. He also planned other regulations for abridging the authority of the patricians, and throwing more weight into the popular scale. The day of election for tribunes was the signal of another party contest, more violent than any of the preceding. The sena tors resolved to make a final stand, and a conspiracy was openly formed against the life of Gracchus. Of this he was informed by a friendly senator, as he was proceeding to the capitol. He tucked up his robe, and his party