and finally surmount, the most formidable difficulties. He was ever collected in the most trying situations, and prudence and judgment were distinguishing traits in his character. In his disposition, he was mild and benevolent; but when it was necessary, he was resolutely severe. No officer of the revolutionary army possessed a higher place in the confidence and affection of Washington, and, probably, none would have been so well calculated to succeed him, if death had deprived his country of his services during the revolutionary struggle.

GREEN GAGE; a variety of the plum, the reine claude of the French, usually considered the most delicious of all. It is large, of a green or slightly yellowish color, and has a juicy, greenish pulp, of an exquisite flavor.

GREENLAND (Groenland); an extensive country of North America, belonging to Denmark, the extent of which is unknown. Since lieutenant (now captain) Parry advanced from Baffin's bay into Lancaster sound (1819), it has been supposed to be an island. As far as it is now known, it extends from lat. 59° 38′ to 78° N. Its southern point is cape Farewell. On the western coast lie Davis's straits and Baffin's bay. It is divided into two parts by a chain of mountains passing through the middle of the country from north to south. Greenland was settled 800 years ago, by two colonies from Norway and Denmark, of which the one occupied the eastern, the other the west ern coast. Their intercourse was carried on by sea, the mountains rendering any communication by land impossible. A Runic stone found in Greenland in 1824 (now in the museum of northern antiquities at Copenhagen) proves the early discovery of Greenland from Scandinavia. The western colony, after numerous vicissitudes, still exists. The population in the southern part to the river Frith (68°), amounted, in 1811-13, to 3583: northern Greenland contained only 3000 natives. From 67 to 69°, the country is uninhabited. The fate of the eastern colony, which in 1406 consisted of 190 villages, and had a bishop, 12 parishes and two monasteries, is unknown. Up to that time, 16 bishops had been sent from Norway in regular succession; the 17th was prevented by the ice from reaching the land. Danish sailors, in the 16th and 17th centuries, attempted, without success, to land on the eastern coast. Attempts made in 1786 and 1829, by the command of the Danish government, failed. This lost East

Greenland, Von Egger, in his Prize Essay (1794), maintains, is the country now called Julianenshaab, on the western coast; but a manuscript-now in the library at Dresden, maintains that the old settlement of Osterbygde was actually on the eastern coast of Greenland.* A traveller of the 14th century, Nicolas Zeno, describes Greenland as it existed in his time. In 1818, England sent an expedition to the Polar sea, because the ice at the north pole was said to have decreased, and a north-west passage was believed practicable; the ships returned, however, without accomplishing any thing. Captain Scoresby found the eastern coast free from ice in 1822; he sailed along it from 75° to 69°, and examined it with care (see his Journal of a Voyage to the Northern Whale-Fishery, &c., 1822). To this traveller we are indebted for the latest and most correct accounts of East Greenland, which refute Egger's opinions. He found fields producing luxuriant grass, but no inhabitants. He met, however, with some houses, containing household utensils and hunting apparatus, and a wooden coffin. The English captain Sabine describes the eastern coast of Greenland (see his Experiments to determine the Figure of the Earth, &c.), from 72° to 76° Ñ. latitude. He also found it impossible, on account of the permanent mass of ice, to approach the eastern coast north of 74°; his examinations proved that there was no current which carries the ice from those coasts towards the south. The western coast was also cut off, in the middle of the 14th century, from its usual intercourse with Norway and Iceland, by a dreadful plague, called the black death. In the reign of queen Elizabeth, Frobisher and Davis again discovered this coast of Greenland. From that time, nothing was done to explore this country, until the Danish government, in 1721, assisted a clergyman, Hans Egede, with two ships, to effect a landing in 64° 5, and establish the first European settlement, Good Hope (Godhaab), on the river Baal. Egede found the country inhabited by a race of people which had probably spread from the west over Davis's straits, and which resembled the Esquimaux of Labrador in their language and customs. In 1733, the Moravian Brothers were induced by count Zinzendorf to attempt the establishment of

The Paris Archives du Christianisme says, that an expedition, which left Copenhagen in May, 1830, has found the long lost colony, professing the Christian religion, and speaking the Norwegian of the 10th century.

settlements and missions on these inhospitable shores. There are now on the western coast of Greenland twenty settlements, of which the most southerly, Lichtenau, is situated in 60° 34′ N. latitude. Near it is the second settlement, Juliana's Hope (Julianen shaab): in the vicinity, the ruins of an old Icelandic and Norwegian church are still visible. Farther to the north lie Frederic's Hope, Lichtenfels, Good Hope, New Herrnhut, Zuckerhut, Holsteinburg, Egedesminde, Christian's Hope, Jacobshaven, Omenack and Upernamick, in 72° 32′ N. latitude, the most northern settlement, now occupied only by Greenlanders. The governor of South Greenland has his seat in Good Hope, and the governor of North Greenland is stationed at Guthaven, on the island of Disco, in 70 N. latitude. There are five Protestant churches on the coast, in which the gospel is preached in the Danish and Greenlandish dialects. The Moravian Brothers have three houses of public worship in Lichtenau, Lichtenfels and New Herrnhut. The natives, called by the oldest Icelandish and Norwegian authors, Skrellings, belong to the Esquimaux family, which is spread over all the northern part of America, to the western coast. They are remarkable for their diminutive stature; their hair is dark, long, stringy, eyes black, heads disproportionately large, legs thin, and complexion a brownish yellow, approaching to olive green. This, however, is partly owing to their filthy manner of living, and partly to their food and occupations, as they are constantly covered with blubber and train oil. The women, being employed, from early youth, in carrying heavy loads, are so broad shouldered, as to lose all feminine appearance. Their dress contributes to this effect; they wear the skins of seals and reindeer. The short coats, the trowsers and boots of both sexes, are all made of the same material. In extremely cold weather, they wear a shirt made of the skins of birds, particularly those of the sea-raven, the eider duck, &c. In winter, they live in houses of stone, with walls two feet in thickness, covered with brushwood and turf, and with an entrance so small, that it can be passed only on the hands and feet. Windows are seldom met with in these huts; those which they have are made of the intestines of whales and seals. The height of the house never exceeds six feet; it is 12 feet wide, and of about the same length. It consists of one room only, with a raised platform on one side, covered with seal-skin, which serves

the double purpose of a bed and a table, Lamps, supplied with train-oil, are kept constantly burning, as much for the sake of warmth as of light. The smell from so many oil lamps, together with that of the fish, raw skins and greasy inhabitants, is hardly to be endured by unaccustomed nostrils; and the filthy condition of the huts breeds immense quantities of vermin. When the snow melts, which is generally the case in May, the roof of the house generally sinks in, and the Greenlander then spreads a tent, which is covered with seal skin, and surrounded with a curtain of the intestines of whales; the interior is arranged like the winter establishment. Their utensils and tools are simple, but ingeniously contrived. They consist of bows and arrows, lances, javelins and harpoons. Their canoes are made of laths, bound by whalebone, and covered with dressed seal-skin. They show a wonderful skill in managing them, even in the most boisterous weather. They also use sledges, drawn by dogs, in which they sometimes go from 30 to 40 miles from the land on the frozen sea. The swiftness of these animals is such, that in 9 or 10 hours, they accomplish a distance of about 60 miles. The language of the Greenlanders is the same as that spoken by the Esquimaux in Labrador, and on the shores of Hudson's bay. Traces of it are also said to be found on the north-west coast of America, as far as Nootka sound. The variety in the forms of the verbs, in combination with the pronouns, is a remarkable peculiarity of this language. The superstitious Greenlanders pay great respect to their angekoks or sorcerers, who are at the same time their priests and physicians. They have but very rude notions of a Supreme Being. During the prevalence of the north-east winds, the cold is often so great, that the mercury sinks to 48° below the freezing point of Fahr. The west winds coming from Davis's straits are always damp, and accompanied by thaws. The basis of the mountains and rocks is a fine-grained granite, with gneiss, mica slate, hornblende and whitestone. Many interesting and uncommon minerals are found-magnetic iron ore, gadolinite, zircon, schorl, tourmaline, the finest garnets, sodalite, iolite, and hypersthene of a beautiful light blue. Among the animals are the polar fox, the white hare, the reindeer, the white bear, the arctic fox, the walrus, various kinds of seals, and the narval. The Greenland whale (see Whale, and Whale-Fishery) is found in great numbers

and of an enormous size. Of the birds, the principal is the cinereous eagle; the snowy owl, and others of the falcon tribe, inhabit the high rocks; the water-fowl are numerous. A species of mosquito is exceedingly troublesome in the warm weather. The exports are whalebone, oil, skins and furs, eider down, the horns of the narval, &c. The imports are provisions, gunpowder, cotton and linen goods, iron and glass wares, &c. In the inlets and bays which intersect the coast of Greenland, immense masses of ice are accumulated during a series of years, which, being loosened during the heat of summer, lose their points of support from the shore,and plunge into the ocean with athundering noise. Being afterwards set adrift by the currents, they embarrass the navigation of the Polar seas, and become the terror of the mariner. Those masses of ice are formed both of fresh and of salt water, and sometimes rise more than 500 feet above the surface of the water. The salt water ice occurs in immense fields, of many thousand fathons in length and breadth, divided by fissures, but following close on each other. When the wind begins to blow, and the sea to rise in vast billows, the violent shocks of those masses of ice against each other, fill the mind with astonishment and terror. The coasts of Greenland are surrounded by many thousand islands of different sizes, on which the native inhabitants frequently fix their residence, on account of their good situation for sea game.

GREEN MOUNTAINS; a range of mountains, commencing in Canada, and extending south through Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut. They divide the waters which flow into the Connecticut from those which flow into lake Champlain and the Hudson. Among the highest summits in Vermont are Mansfield mountain, Camel's rump, and Killington peak. West rock, near New Haven, Conn., is the southern termination of the chain. The natural growth upon these mountains is hemlock, pine, spruce, and other evergreens, and they derive their name from their green appearance. There are many fine farms among these mountains, and much of the land upon them is excellent for grazing.

GREENOCK; the chief seaport of Scotland, on the south bank of the river Clyde, which has in front an extensive and beautiful bay. The manufactories of the place are sugar-houses, rope-walks, soap and candle works, tan works, potteries, bottle and crystal works, hat manu

factories, extensive founderies and manufactories of steam engines and chain cables; to these may be added ship-building, which is carried on to a great extent. The herring-fishery is the oldest branch of the industry of the place. The harbors are very spacious, and are frequented by vessels from all quarters of the world. The dry docks are elegant and commodious; the one lately erected, near the custom-house, is considered the first in the kingdom. Population in 1828, over 25,000. Lon. 0° 18′ 58′′W.; lat. 55° 57′ 2′′N. GREENSTONE. (See Hornblende.)

GREENVILLE COLLEGE, pleasantly situated, 3 miles from Greenville, Tennessee, was incorporated in 1794. The college hall is a neat building, about 60 feet long, and 25 wide, of 2 stories. The college has a library of about 3500 volumes, a small philosophical apparatus, and funded property to the amount of about $6000.

GREENWICH; a market-town of England, in Kent, on the southern bank of the Thames, formerly the seat of a palace in which the kings of England occasionally resided. It was built by Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, and called Placentia. Henry VII enlarged it, and his son, Henry VIII, finished it. Queen Elizabeth and queen Mary were born within its walls, and Edward VI died here. King Charles II took the greater part down, and commenced a new palace on its site, a part of which forms one wing of the present hospital. This consists, at present, of four extensive piles of building or wings, entirely detached from each other, but so connected by the conformity of their dimensions, their figures, and the general arrangement of their decorations, as to form a complete whole. The principal front, which is nearly all of Portland stone, faces the Thames on the north. The two northern wings are separated by a square of 270 feet wide; the two southern are connected by two colonnades, 115 feet asunder, supported by 300 double columns and pilasters; while a spacious avenue through the hospital from the town, divides these squares from each other, and thus also divides the whole of the northern half of the building from the whole of the southern. In the middle of the great square is a statue of George II, sculptured by Rysbrach. Extending 865 feet along the front, the intervening bank of the Thames is formed into a terrace, with a double flight of steps to the river in the middle. The pensioners to be received into the hospital must be aged and maimed seamen of the navy, or

family, about 544; and, having received an education suitable to his rank, he became a member of the senate, and filled other employments in the state. Italy was then subject to the emperors of the East, and Justin II appointed him to the important post of prefect or governor of Rome; which, after having held it for some time with great reputation, he resigned. The death of his father put him in possession of great wealth, which he expended in the foundation of monasteries and charitable institutions. Disgusted with the world, he took the monastic vows himself, and became a member of one of his own establishments. Pope Pelagius II sent him on an embassy to Constantinople, and made him papal secretary after his return to Rome. On the death of pope Pelagius, in 590, he was chosen his successor. He displayed great zeal for the conversion of heretics, the advancement of monachism, and the rigid enforcement of celibacy among the clergy. His contest for ecclesiastical superiority with John, patriarch of Constantinople, laid the foundation of the schism between the Greek and Latin churches, which has subsisted to the present day. The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity was a project honorable to his zeal and abilities. (See Augustin, St.) He died in March, 604. The works ascribed to this pope are very numerous, and have been frequently published. The most complete edition is that of the Benedictines of St. Maur (Paris, 1705, 4 vols. folio), under the superintendence of father Denis de St. Martha, who, in 1697, published a life of St. Gregory the Great. His genuine writings consist of a treatise on the Pastoral Duty, Letters, Scripture Commentaries, &c.

GREGORY OF NYSSA; born at Nyssa, in Cappadocia, younger brother of Basil the Great, celebrated as an ardent defender of the Nicene creed, and also for his eloquence. He died in his native city, of which he was bishop, some time after 394. Editions of his works were published at Paris in 1573 and 1605, and 1615 and 1638 (3 vols. folio).

GREGORY VII (Hildebrand). The year and the place of the birth of this great pope are uncertain. Some accounts say that he was born at Sienna, others at Soana, in Tuscany; others still, at Rome. It is, however, certain, that he lived at Rome when a child, and went to France when a young man, where he became connected with the monastery at Cluny, and returned to Rome in 1045. His his tory becomes more known after the time

of his return to the monastery of Cluny, where Leo IX saw him on his journey through France. He returned with this pope to Rome, and from that time, although in the back ground, he played an important part; and by the influence which great minds always exercise over ordinary men, he directed the measures of Leo and several following popes. On the death of Alexander II (1073), cardinal Hildebrand was raised to the papal chair. He now labored with the greatest energy to accomplish those plans for which he had prepared the way by the measures which the preceding popes had adopted through his influence. It was the object of his ambition not only to place the whole ecclesiastical power in the hands of the pope, but to make the church entirely independent of the temporal power. He wished to found a theocracy, in which the pope, the vicar of God, should be the sovereign ruler, in political as well as ecclesiastical matters-a bold idea, which he probably conceived in consequence of the wretched state of all civil authority. He therefore prohibited the marriage of priests, and abolished lay investiture, the only remaining source of the authority of princes over the clergy of their dominions. In 1074, he issued his edicts against simony and the marriage of priests, and, in 1075, an edict forbidding the clergy, under penalty of forfeiting their offices, from receiving the investiture of any ecclesiastical dignity from the hands of a layman, and, at the same time, forbidding the laity, under penalty of excommunication, to attempt the exercise of the investiture of the clergy. The emperor Henry IV refused to obey this decree, and Gregory took advantage of the discontent excited by the despotic character and youthful levity of the emperor, among the people and princes of Germany, to advance his own purposes. In 1075, he deposed several German bishops, who had bought their offices of the emperor, and excommunicated five imperial counsellors,who were concerned in this transaction; and when the emperor persisted in retaining the counsellors and supporting the bishops, the pope, in 1076, issued a new decree, summoning the emperor before a council at Rome, to defend himself against the charges brought against him. Henry IV then caused a sentence of deposition to be passed against the pope, by a council assembled at Worms. The pope, in return, excommunicated the emperor, and released all his subjects and vassals from their oath of allegiance. The