of the characters of Monk duke of Albemarle and the earl of Bath from some aspersions thrown upon them in that work. He likewise, in the progress of his historical researches, found occasion to vindicate his great-uncle, sir Richard Greenville, from the unfavourable representations of his conduct by lord Clarendon and archdeacon Echard. Both these tracts he published together, on his return in 1732. They were esteemed as pieces of writing and reason ing, but met with answerers. In the same year he published a splendid edition of his works; in which, it is to be observed, that the offensive comedy above mentioned is omitted, as well as his speech against occasional conformity. He was now so well reconciled to the change in the succession, that he went to court, where he was graciously received by queen Caroline, to whom he presented his works, with some elegant lines written in the last leaf. He died, a few days after his lady, on January 30, 1735, in his sixty-eighth year. He had no male issue, but left four daughters. Lord Landsdown appears to have been an amiable man in private life, steady in his friendships, polite in his manners,, and candid in his judgments. He was liberal in patronising literary merit, and had the credit of being one of the first to recognise the rising powers of Pope, who amply repaid him by his dedication of Windsor Forest. His own poetical talents certainly did not rise above elegant mediocrity; and his works continue to make a part of the mass of English poetry, rather through deference to rank and the compliments of contemporary writers than because they are still read with admiration. He is chiefly known as a writer of songs and short amatory pieces, most of which are addressed to a Myra, who was the countess of Newburgh, his youthful flame. They are not, however, either highly poetical or strongly expressive of feeling. Of his other pieces, Dr. Johnson characterises his "Essay on unnatural Flights in Poetry" as possessing didactic merit; and his "British Enchanters' as lively and pleasing, though he acknowledges that it confounds the manners of different ages. He speaks favourably also of his Prologues and Epilogues, but they appear to rise little above the usual insipidity of those compositions. Biog. Britan. Johnson's Lives of the Poets.-A. GRASWINKEL, THEODORE, a learned lawyer and writer of the seventeenth century, was a native of Delft. He wrote various works upon legal and political subjects; by which he acquired so much reputation, that he was made fiscal of the domains of the states of Holland,

GRA

and secretary of the bipartite chamber on the part of the states-general. He died at Mechlin in 1666, and was buried in the great church at the Hague. He was a defender of the independency of particular states, but at the same time an oppugner of popular rights. In 1634 he published a work entitled "Libertas Veneta, seu Venetorum in Se & Suos imperandi Jus ;" and in 1644 he defended the republic of Venice in a dispute with the duke of Savoy concerning precedence. For these services that republic created him a knight of St. Mark. In 1642 he published a work" De Jure Majestatis;" designed as a confutation of the popular maxims of Buchanan. This was dedicated to Christina queen of Sweden, a great assertor of regal privileges. In a work entitled "Maris Liberi Vindicia," he maintained the liberty of the sea against a Genoese named Burgus, who had followed the steps of Selden. He wrote a treatise in 1660, entitled "De Preludiis Justitix & Juris," together with a dissertation " De Fide Hæreticis & Rebellibus Servanda," intended to refute a Portuguese Jesuit. He also composed various Latin poems; and he wrote some works in the Dutch language, among which was a treatise "On the Sovereignty of the States of Holland," two volumes quarto. Bayle. Moreri.-A.

GRATIAN, Roman emperor, son of Valentinian I. by his first wife Severas, was born in 359 at Sirmich or Sirmium. His father, after a fit of illness, appointed him his partner in the empire, when only eight years of age. He was in his seventeenth year at his father's death, in 375; and, without communicating the event to him, then keeping his court at Treves, the officers of the army elected as his partner in the empire Valentinian II, the deceased emperor's young son, by his second wife Justina. Gratian, though he complained of this assumption of authority on their part, ratified the election, and ever treated his young brother with paternal tenderness. A division of the Western empire was nominally made between them, but the superior age of Gratian gave him all the real authority. Their father's brother Valens, at this time, possessed the Eastern empire. One of Gratian's first acts was to recal to court his mother, who had been divorced and banished. It was followed by the execution of some prefects, who had abused their power by cruelty and injustice. While the young emperor is praised for these deeds, he is severely censured for putting to death the renowned general Theodosius, who fell a victim to the calumnies of some courtiers. The same fiexi

bility of temper caused him to indulge the clergy with a variety of exemptions, and to gratify the orthodox by an edict for the restriction of heretics. The eastern empire being attacked by the Goths, Gratian, who was not deficient in courage and activity, marched to its assistance, and, in 378, obtained a victory over the Alemanni near Argentaria, now Colmar, in Alsace. Pursuing his advantage, he crossed the Rhine, and penetrated into the heart of the enemy's country, in order to join his forces with those of Valens. But that emperor, in the mean time, underwent a total defeat, and lost his life, at the battle of Adrianople. Gratian immediately called from his retreat Theodosius, the son of the general who had suffered under his hasty displeasure, and placed him at the head of a separate army, with which he destroyed a large body of Sarmatians who were on their march to join the Goths. The emperor himself went to Constantinople, where he recalled the orthodox bishops who had been banished by Valens, and issued some edicts relative to religion. He then, as Valens had left no male heirs, proceeded to fill the vacant throne of the East; and nobly disregarding the suggestions of personal ambition, he consulted the general good by raising Theodosius to a station which his talents so well fitted him to occupy. This event took place at Sirmium, in the beginning of 379. Gratian then returned to Italy, and passing some time at Milan, listened with reverence to the instructions of the celebrated bishop Ambrose, who, while he enlightened the emperor's mind in the mysteries of the catholic faith, also obtained from him farther advantages for the orthodox, and the revocation of a former edict allowing liberty of conscience to the sectaries. For some time longer he seems to have attended with vigilance to the defence of the empire; and it is universally agreed that he displayed all the amiable qualities which have decorated the best sovereigns, together with many of the virtues and attainments which inspire respect and esteem. But his youth and pliancy of disposition did not admit that stedfastness of 'character which alone is a security against a change, and he has given room to suspect that what was most laudable in his conduct was the result of that influence which his preceptors had obtained over his youth, and which advancing years continually tended to diminish. He is not, indeed, chargeable with having sunk into those vices which degraded many of his predecessors; but he fell into habits of indolence and a love of frivolous amusements that were hurt

VOL. IV.

ful to his subjects, and finally ruinous to himself. An unbounded passion for the pleasures of the chace occupied his time and attention, to the neglect of his imperial duties. It also led him to entertain as his guards and attendants a body of Alani, recommended by their skill in hunting and he offended the people by appearing in the garb of a Scythian warrior, armed with the bow and quiver. Discontents were upon the point of breaking out, when a revolt took place among the legions of Britain, who invested one Maximus with the purple. Collecting a great number of the people of the island, he transported them into Gaul, where he was joined by numerous deserters from the imperial troops. Gratian himself hastened from the borders of Germany to Paris, in order to oppose the usurper; but his efforts were either fecble, or counteracted by treachery; for, the first time his standard was displayed, it was abandoned even by his household troops. With a train of no more than 3co horse, the unfortunate emperor fled towards the Alps, all the cities on the road refusing him admittance till he arrived at Lyons. The governor of that place, by a show of fidelity, induced him to make a fatal stop; when, upon the arrival of the cavalry of Maximus, he betrayed his master into the hands of the commander, who put him to death, A.D. 383. Gratian perished in the twenty-fifth year of his age, after a reign of seven years and nine months, reckoning from his father's decease. He had been twice married, but left no issue. Univers. Hist. Giobon.-A.

GRATIAN, an Italian benedictine monk in the twelfth century, famous for having formed the first collection of canons that was ordered to be used as a text book in the public schools, was a native of Chiusi in Tuscany, and embraced the monastic life in the convent of St. Felix and St. Nabor, at Bologna. Before his time there had not been wanting collections of canons, or laws of the church, compiled by dif ferent individuals; but they were so destitute of order and method, and so defective both in matter and form, that they could not be conveniently explained in the schools, or made use of as systems of ecclesiastical polity. This circumstance engaged Gratian to undertake the task of compiling such a system; and after a labour, as it is said, of more than twenty-four years, he produced, in 1151, an abridgment of canon law, drawn from the letters of the pontiffs, the decrees of councils, and the writings of the ancient doctors, which in the first edition was entitled "Concordantia discordantium Canonum," or "the Coalition of jarring Canons," 3 s

and was afterwards most commonly called "Decretum Gratiani,"or" Gratian's Decretal." No sooner did this work appear, than pope Eugenius III. declared himself extremely satisfied with it, and commanded it to be publicly read in the schools. The professors of Bologna were the first who unanimously adopted it as their text book in their public lectures; and their example was soon followed by the professors of Paris, and in no long process of time by the professors in the greatest part of the European colleges. It is a work, however, full of ignorance and blunders, and rests frequently on authorities which have now for centuries been generally acknowledged to be supposititious. Indeed several of the most learned and eminent writers of the Romish communion allow, that it abounds in errors and defects of various kinds. But as it was calculated to support the despotism, and to extend the authority, of the Roman pontiffs, its defects were overlooked, and its merits exaggerated; so that for near four centuries it was appealed to as the standard of ecclesiastical law, and in succeeding times has been quoted with a degree of veneration and authority, worthy only of the dark age in which it made its first appearance. The abbé Fleury, in his excellent Discourse on Ecclesiastical History," has passed a very dispassionate judgment on its merits. The first printed edition of this work was published at Mentz, in 1472, folio, without the author's name; and was followed by impressions at Venice, in 1476, and Paris, in 1508. In 1580 an edition of it was published at Rome, with the approbation of pope Gregory XIII., in four volumes folio, on which much labour had been bestowed during the pontificates of his predecessors, popes Pius ÏV. and V., with the view of correcting its numerous faults. While the Roman edition was preparing for the press, the celebrated Anthony Augustin, archbishop of Tarragona, in Spain, published a valuable treatise "De Emendatione Gratiani," of which the most accurate edition is that published at Paris, by M. Baluze, in 1672, 8vo. with notes. Cave's Hist. Lit. vol. II. sub sac. Wald. Dupin. Moreri. Nouv. Dict. Hist. Mosh. Hist. Eccl. sec. XII. part ii.-M.

GRATIUS, surnamed from the place of his birth FALISCUS, a Roman poet, was contemporary with Virgil; at least, both are men tioned in one distich by Ovid (Trist. l. iv. el. 9.) His work, entitled "Cynegeticon," or The Art of Hunting with Dogs, lay unknown to the moderns till 1534, in which year it was printed by Paul Manutius, from a MS. brought by

Sannazaro from France. It is written with a purity not unworthy of the Augustan age, but its subject does not allow much poetry. The best edition is that of Leipsic, 1659, 4to.; with the notes of Janus Ulitius. It is also printed in the collection of "Rei Venaticæ Scriptores," Amst. and Leyd. 1728, and in Mattaire's "Corpus Poetarum." Vossii Poet. Lat. Tiraboschi. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-A.

He

GRAVEROL, FRANCIS, a lawyer and man of learning, was born at Nismes in 1635. He was an advocate in the parliament of Toulouse and in the presidial chamber of Nismes, and director and secretary of the academy in the latter place. He was extremely well versed both in the studies belonging to his profession and in subjects of general literature. particularly distinguished himself in the knowledge of medals and inscriptions. His writings consist of several dissertations on particular medals and other monuments of antiquity: of "Observations on the Arrets of the Parliament of Toulouse," 4to. ; much esteemed: the collection entitled "Sorberiana:" "Notice ou Abrégé Histoire des 22 Villes Chefs des Dioceses de la Prov. de Languedoc," folio; a posthumous work. He was well known to all the learned in Europe, and was admitted a member of the Ricovrati at Padua. adherence to the calvinist persuasion impeded his advancement, and at length involved him in persecution. He had retired to Orange in 1685, but not thinking himself safe there, he attempted to pass into Switzerland. In his way, he was apprehended at Valence, and was committed to prison in the citadel of Montpellier. He obtained his liberation, and died at Nismes in 1694, while he had in hand some important literary works. Moreri.—A.

His

s'GRAVESANDE, WILLIAM-JAMES LE, a celebrated Dutch mathematician and philosopher, who flourished in the eighteenth century, was born at Bois-le-Duc, in the year 1688. When he was about sixteen years of age he was sent to the university of Leyden, to study the civil law; but the mathematics were his favourite pursuit, for which he discovered a very early inclination. Soon after he was eighteen years of age he composed his excellent "Essay on Perspective," by which he obtained no little applause from the most eminent mathematicians of his time. In the year 1707, after having taken his doctor's degree, he quitted the university and settled at the Hague, where he practised at the bar, and cultivated an acquaintance with learned men. He was one of those who undertook the publication of a periodical

Review, entitled "Le Journal Littéraire," which commenced in the year 1713, and was continued without interruption to the year 1722. The parts of it contributed by s'Gravesande, were extracts and original dissertations, chiefly relating to geometry and physics. Among the dissertations, the following were of his own composition: "Remarks on the Construction of Pneumatical Engines;" "A Moral Essay on Lying" and "An Essay on the Collision of Bodies," which was attacked by Dr. Clarke, and other learned men, on account of its opposing the principles of the Newtonian philosophy. When, in the year 1715, the States General sent to congratulate George I. on his accession to the throne of Great Britain, Dr. s'Gravesande was appointed secretary to the embassy; and during his stay in England, became intimately acquainted with sir Isaac Newton, and was also admitted a member of the Royal Society. Upon his return to Holland, he was offered the professorship of mathematics and astronomy in the university of Leyden, which he accepted. He now commenced an entire new course of physics, in which he had the honour of first teaching in that university the Newtonian philosophy, which was now in its infancy. In the year 1721 he took a journey to Cassel, at the request of the landgrave of Hesse, in order to give his opinion of the famous Orffyreus's wheel, which the inventor maintained to be an illustration of the principle of a perpetual motion. According to the account of Dr. s'Gravesande, that wheel was formed of an assemblage of deals, the intervals between which were covered with waxed cloth, in order to conceal the interior parts of it. On giving it a slight impulse, its motion was gradually accelerated; so that after two or three revolutions it acquired so great a velocity, as to make twenty-five or twenty-six turns in a minute. This rapid motion it actually preserved during the space of two months, in a chamber of the landgrave, the door of which was kept locked, and sealed with the landgrave's own seal. At the end of that time it was stopped, to prevent the wear of the materials. Our professor, who had been a witness to these circumstances, examined all the external parts of it, and was convinced that there could not be any communication between it and any neighbouring room. Orffyreus, however, was so incensed so incensed at his examination of it, that he broke the machine in pieces, and wrote on the wall, that it was the impertinent curiosity of professor s'Gravesande which made him take this step. The prince of Hesse, who had seen the interior

The

parts of it, assured s'Gravesande, that after it had been in motion for some time, no change was observable in it, and that it did not contain any pieces that indicated fraud or deception; and also declared that the machine was of a very simple construction. After Dr. s'Gravesande's return to Holland, he applied with great diligence to the duties of his professorship, to which those of the philosophical chair were added in the year 1734. His laborious exertions in these departments, and in preparing for publication his own mathematical and philosophical productions, as well as in superintending correct editions of the works of others, proved too powerful for his constitution, which sunk under them in 1742, when he was fifty-four years of age. His private character was highly respectable and amiable. His morals were exemplary; and though his natural disposition was warm and impetuous, he acquired the entire command of himself, and rendered himself beloved for his generosity, benevolence, and obliging manners. ministers of the republic consulted him on all occasions when his talents were requisite to assist them, which his skill in calculation often enabled him to do in matters of finance. He was also of great service to them as a decypherer, in detecting the secret correspondence of their enemies. And in his own profession, no person ever applied the powers of nature with more success, or to more useful purposes. Besides the articles already noticed, the principal of his publications were, "Physices Elementa Mathematica, Experimentis confirmata, sive Introductio ad Philosophiam Newtonianam," first printed in 1720, which consists of the author's public lectures, and has gone through many editions, of which the most valuable one is that published in English, by Dr. Desagulier, in 1747, in two large volumes quarto, under the title of "Mathematical Elements of Natural Philosophy, confirmed by Experiments;"" Matheseos Universalis Elementa, &c." 1727, 8vo., containing a system of algebra for the use of students, with a commentary on Newton's universal arithmetic, and a new rule for determining the form of an assumed infinite series; "Philosophie Newtonian Institutiones, &c." 1744, 8vo., which is an abridgment of his "Elements of Physics;" and "Introductio ad Philosophiam, Metaphysicam & Logicam continens. The whole of his mathematical and philosophical works, excepting the first article above enumerated, were collected and published at Amsterdam, in two volumes quarto, with a critical account of