the winter months. GOOLE-GOOSE. Goodwin, in the shifting sands of which their wrecks are soon entirely swallowed up. Many celebrated and terribly fatal wrecks have taken place here, among which we have only space to enumerate the three line-of-battle-ships, Stirling Castle, Mary, and Northumberland, each of 70 guns, which, with other ten men-of-war, were totally lost during the fearful gale of the 26th November 1703, a gale so tremendous that vessels were actually destroyed by it while riding in the Medway. On the 21st December 1805, here foundered the Aurora, a transport, when 300 perished; on the 17th December 1814, the British Queen, an Ostend packet, was lost with all hands; and recently (January 5, 1857), during a gale of eight days' duration, in which several other vessels were lost, the mail-steamer Violet was destroyed, involving the sacrifice of many lives in the catastrophe. From these dates, it will be seen that the greatest dangers are to be apprehended in These dangerous sands are said to have consisted at one time of about 4000 acres of low land, fenced from the sea by a wall. One well-known tradition ascribes their present state to the building of the Tenterden steeple, for the erection of which the funds that should have maintained the sea-wall had been diverted: this traditionary account is of little, if any value. Lambard, in writing of them, says: Whatsoever old wives tell of Goodwyne, Earle of Kent, in time of Edward the Confessour, and his sandes, it appeareth by Hector Boëtius, the Brittish chronicler, that theise sandes weare mayne land, and some tyme of the possession of Earl Godwyne, and by a great inundation of the sea, they weare taken therfroe, at which tyme also much harme was done in Scotland and Flanders, by the same rage of the water.' At the period of the Conquest by William of Normandy, these estates were taken from Earl Godwin, and bestowed upon the abbey of St Augustine at Canterbury, the abbot of which, allowing the sea-wall to fall into a dilapidated condition, the waves rushed in, in the year 1100, and overwhelmed the whole. How far this account of the formation of this remarkable shoal can be relied on, is a matter of considerable doubt, the documentary evidence on the subject being scanty and unsatisfactory. A colourable confirmation is, however, to be deduced from the fact of the successive inroads which the sea has made for centuries past, and is still making along the whole east coast of England. 6 As a precaution, now, in foggy weather, bells in the light-ships are frequently sounded. Difficulty is experienced in finding firm anchorage for these vessels; and all efforts to establish a fixed beacon have been hitherto unsuccessful. In 1846, a lighthouse on piles of iron screwed into the sand was erected, but it was washed away in the following year. As soon as a vessel is known to have been driven upon the sands, rockets are thrown up from the light-vessels, and the fact thus communicated to the shore. The rockets are no sooner recognised, than a number of boatmen, known all along the coast as 'hovellers,' immediately launch their boats and make for the sands, whatever may be the state of wind and weather. These 'hovellers' regard the wreck itself as their own property, and although during fine weather they lead a somewhat regardless as well as a wholly idle and inactive life, their intrepidity in seasons of tempest is worthy of all praise. into importance, and may be said to date the commencement of its prosperity from its establishment as a bonding-port in 1829. It has commodions ship, barge, and steam-vessel docks, a patent slip for repairing vessels, ponds for bonded timber, a neatly-built custom house, and extensive warehouse accommodation. G. has a considerable trade in ship and boat building, sail-making, iron-founding, and agricultural machine-making; it has also several corn-mills, some of which are worked by steam. Coal is largely exported along the coast, and in considerable quantities to London. In 1861, 3440 vessels, of 267,706 tons, entered and cleared the port. Pop. in 1861, 5850. GOOSANDER (Mergus Merganser), a webfooted bird of the same genus with those commonly called Mergansers (q. v.), and the largest of the the adult male has the head and upper part of the British species. It is larger than a wild duck; neck of a rich shining green; the feathers of the crown and back of the head elongated, the back breast and belly of a delicate reddish buff colour. black and gray, the wings black and white, the The female has the head reddish brown, with a less decided tuft than the male, and much grayer plumage, and has been often described as a different species, receiving the English name of Dundiver. Both mandibles are furnished with wards (see accompanying illustration), the nearest many sharp serratures or teeth directed back Goosander (Mergus Merganser). approach to true teeth to be found in the mouth of any bird. See also BILL. The G. is a native of the arctic regions, extending into the temperate parts of Europe, Asia, and America; in the southern parts of Britain, it is seen only in winter, and then only in severe weather, the females and young migrating southwards in such circumstances more frequently than the old males, and not unfrequently appearing in small flocks in the south of Scotland and north of England; but in some of the northern parts of Scotland and the Scottish isles it spends the whole year. It feeds on fish, crustaceans, and other aquatic animals which its serrated bill and its power of diving admirably adapt it for seizing. The flesh of the G. is extremely rank and coarse, but the eggs appear to be sought after by the inhabitants of some northern countries. GOOLE, a thriving market-town and river-port GOOSE (Anser), a genus of web-footed birds, one of England, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, is of the sections of the Linnæan genus Anas (q. v.), situated on the right bank of the Ouse at its having the bill not longer than the head, more junction with the Dutch River, 22 miles south-high than broad at the base, the upper mandible south-east of York. It has only recently risen slightly hooked at the tip; the legs placed further GOOSE. forward than in ducks, and so better adapted for walking; the neck of moderate length, with sixteen vertebræ, a character which widely distinguishes them from swans. In general, geese spend more of their time on land than any other of the Anatide, feeding on grass and other herbage, berries, seeds, and other vegetable food. Although large birds, and of bulky form, they have great powers of flight. They strike with their wings in fighting, and there is a hard callous knob or tubercle at the bend of the wing, which in some species becomes a spur. The DOMESTIC G. is regarded as deriving its origin from the GRAY LAG G. or COMMON WILD G. (A. ferus); but all the species seem very capable of domestication, and several of them have been to some extent domesticated. The Gray Lag G. is almost three feet in length from the tip of the bill to the extremity of the short tail. Its extent of wing is about five feet. The wings do not reach to the extremity of the tail. The weight of the largest birds is about ten pounds. The colour of the plumage is gray, varying in some parts to grayish brown; the rump and belly white, the tail grayish brown and white; the bill is orange, the nail at the tip of the upper mandible white. The young are darker than the adults. The Gray Lag G. is common in some parts of the centre and south of Europe, also in many parts of Asia, and in the north of Africa, but it is not known in America. It is a bird of temperate rather than of cold climates. In some countries, it is found at all seasons of the year, but it deserts its most northern haunts in severe weather, migrating southward; its flocks, like those of others of this genus, flying at a great height, beyond the reach of shot, except of the rifle, one bird always leading the flock, the rest sometimes following in a single line, but more generally in two lines converging to the leading bird. The Gray Lag G. was formerly abundant in the fenny parts of England, and resided there all the year, but the drainage of the fens has made it now a rare bird, and only known as a winter visitant in the British Islands. It frequents bays of the sea and estuaries as well as inland waters, and often leaves the waters to visit moors, meadows, and cultivated fields, generally preferring an open country, or taking its place, as remote as possible from danger, in the middle of a field. These excursions are often made by night, and no small mischief is often done by a flock of hungry geese to a field of newly-sprung wheat or other crop. At the breeding season, the winter-flocks of wild geese break up into pairs; the nests are made in moors or on tussocks in marshes; the eggs vary in number from five to eight or rarely twelve or fourteen; they are of a dull white colour, fully three inches long, and two inches in diameter. Although the common G. has been long domesticated, and it was probably among the very first of domesticated birds, the varieties do not differ widely from each other. Emden Geese are remarkable for their perfect whiteness; Toulouse Geese, for their large size. As a domesticated bird, the G. is of great value, both for the table, and on account of its quills, and of the fine soft feathers. The quills supplied all Europe with pens before steel pens were invented, and have not ceased to be in great demand. Geese must have free access to water, and when this is the case, they are easily reared, and rendered profitable. Two broods are sometimes produced in a season, ten or eleven in a brood, and the young geese are ready for the table in three months after they leave the shell. They live, if permitted, to a great age. Willughby records an instance of one that reached the age of eighty years, and was killed at last for its mischievousness. Great flocks of geese are kept in some places in England, particularly in Lincolnshire, and regularly plucked five times a year, for feathers and quills. Geese intended for the table are commonly shut up for a few weeks, and fattened before being killed. Great numbers are imported from Holland and Germany for the London market, and fattened in England in establishments entirely devoted to this purpose. Goose-hams are an esteemed delicacy. The gizzards, heads, and legs of geese are also sold in sets, under the name of giblets, to be used for pies. The livers of geese have long been in request among epicures; but the pâte de foie d'oie, or pâté de foie gras of Strasburg, is made from livers in a state of morbid enlargement, caused by keeping the geese in an apartment of very high temperature. Large goose-livers were a favourite delicacy of the ancient Roman epicures. The Gray Lag G. is the largest of the native British species. The next to it in size, and by far the most abundant British wild goose, is the BEAN G. (4. segetum), a very similar bird; the bill longer, orange, with the base and nail black; the plumage mostly gray, but browner than in the Gray Lag G., the rump dark brown. The wings extend beyond the tail. The habits scarcely differ from those of the Gray Lag G., but the Bean G. is a more northern species. It is common in all the northern parts of Europe and Asia; and great numbers breed in Nova Zembla, Greenland, and other most northern regions. Large flocks are to be seen in many parts of Britain in winter, particularly during severe frosts, but a few also breed in the north of Scotland, and even in the north of England. The Bean G. is easily domesticated, but generally keeps apart from the ordinary tame geese. The WHITE-FRONTED G., or LAUGHING G. (A. albifrons), is a frequent winter visitant of Britain; a native. of Europe, Asia, and America, breeding chiefly on the coasts and islands of the arctic seas. is only about 27 inches in its utmost length. The plumage is mostly gray; there is a conspicuous white space on the forehead. It has been often tamed.-Similar to it in size is the PINK-FOOTED G. (A. brachyrhynchus), a species which has a very short bill. In England it is rare, and a mere winter visitor, but it breeds in great numbers in some of the Hebrides.-The SNOW G (4. hyperboreus) is found in all the regions within the arctic circle, but most abundantly in America, where it migrates southward in winter, as far as the Gulf of Mexico. It is somewhat smaller than the Bean Goose. The general colour of the plumage is pure white, the It GOOSEBERRY-GOOSEBERRY CATERPILLAR. quill feathers brownish black. The feathers imported are trained in various ways, but it is necessary to from the Hudson's Bay territories are, in great part, prune so that they may not be choked up with the produce of this beautiful species, and probably shoots, whilst care ought to be taken to have an many of the fine white goose feathers imported from abundant supply of young wood, which produces Russia. Its flesh is greatly esteemed. The CANADA the largest berries. Besides its well known wholeG. (A. Canadensis) is one of the most abundant someness and pleasantness, and its use for making North American species, breeding even in the milder an excellent preserve and jelly, the ripe fruit is latitudes, but in vast numbers in the more northern used for making wine and vinegar. An effervescent parts, from which it migrates southwards on the gooseberry wine, which might well claim attention approach of winter. It was introduced into Britain under its own name, is often fraudulently sold as at least 200 years ago, and may now be regarded as champagne. The use of unripe gooseberries for fully naturalized; a great ornament of lakes and tarts increases the value of this fruit-shrub. The artificial ponds, from which it makes excursions in G. season is prolonged by training plants on north small flocks over the surrounding districts. In the walls, and by covering the bushes with matting uniform breadth of the bill it resembles swans. It when the fruit is about ripe. Unripe gooseberries is fully three feet and a half from the tip of the bill are kept in jars or bottles, closely sealed, and to the extremity of the tail; but its neck is long placed in a cool cellar, to be used for tarts in and slender, and it does not exceed the common winter. When the bottles are filled, they are heated, G. in weight so much as in length. The bill, the by means of boiling water or otherwise, to expel as feet, the head, great part of the neck, the quill- much air as possible before they are corked and feathers, the rump, and the tail are black; there is sealed. Various derivations have been given of a crescent-shaped white patch on the throat, whence the name G., but most probably the first syllable this species has received the name of the CRAVAT is a corruption of groseille, the French name of the G.; the back, wings, and flanks are grayish brown, fruit, from which also comes the Scotch grozet or the breast and belly pure white. The Canada G. | grozart. In some parts of England, the G. is called has a peculiar resounding hoarse cry. It is easily feaberry.—Among the other species of G. most reduced to the most complete domestication. Its flesh affords great part of the winter supplies of the Hudson's Bay residents, and is much used in a salted state.--The CHINA G., or GUINEA G. (A. Guineensis or cygnoides), of which the native country is supposed to be Guinea, has long been known in Britain in a state of domestication. It has an elevated knob at the base of the upper mandible, which has obtained it the name of Knobbed Goose. Other species of geese are noticed in the articles BARNACLE GOOSE and CEREOPSIS; and species closely allied to those noticed in this article are found in India and other parts of the world. worthy of notice are R. cymosbati, a native of Canada, of Japan, and of the mountains of India, much resembling the common G. in foliage and habit, the fruit more acid than the cultivated G.; R. dicaricatum, a native of the north-west coast of America, with smooth, black, globose, acid fruit; R. irriguum, also from the north-west coast of America, with well-flavoured globose fruit, half an inch in diameter; R. oxyacanthoides, a native of Canada, with small, globose, red, green, or purplish berries of an agreeable taste; R. gracile, found in mountain-meadows from New York to Virginia, with blue or purplish berries of exquisite flavour; GOOSEBERRY (Grossularia), a sub-genus of R. aciculare, a Siberian species, with sweet, wellthe genus Ribes (see CURRANT), distinguished by a flavoured yellowish or purplish smooth berries; thorny stem, a more or less bell-shaped calyx and all of which, and probably others, seem to deserve flowers on 1-3-flowered stalks.-The common G. more attention than they have yet received from (Ribes Grossularia) is a native of many parts of horticulturists. - The SNOWY-FLOWERED G. (R. Europe and the north of Asia, growing wild in niveum), a native of the north-west coast of America, rocky situations and in thickets, particularly in is remarkable for its beautiful white pendulous mountainous districts; but it is a doubtful native flowers. Its berries in size and colour resemble of Britain, although now to be seen in hedges and black currants, are acid, with a very agreeable thickets almost everywhere. Some botanists have flavour, and make delicious tarts. The English goosedistinguished as species the variety having the berry is occasionally cultivated in the United States, berries covered with gland-bearing hairs (seta); large numbers having been imported, but after bearthat having the germens covered with soft unglan- ing for a year or two, all the varieties generally dular hairs, and the berries ultimately smooth; become mildewed and worthless. From this disease and that which has even the germens smooth (R. it will remain free only so long as it is kept in vigGrossularia, R. ura-crispa, and R. reclinatum); but orous growing condition by frequent and judicious these varieties seem to have no definite limits in pruning, so as to provide a constant succession of nature. The varieties produced by cultivation are very numerous, chiefly in England, where, and particularly in Lancashire, greater attention is paid to the cultivation of this valuable fruit-shrub than in any other part of the world. In the south of Europe, it is little known. It does not appear to have been known to the ancients. Its cultivation cannot be certainly referred to an earlier date than the 17th c., and was only in its infancy at the middle of the 18th, when the largest gooseberries produced in Lancashire scarcely weighed more than 10 dwts., whereas the prize-gooseberries of that county now sometimes exceed 30 dwts. Many well-known diversities of form, colour, and flavour, as well as of size, mark the different varieties. For the production of new varieties, the G. is propagated by seed; otherwise, generally by cuttings, which grow very freely. Any good garden soil suits the gooseberry. It is rather the better of a little shade, but suffers from much. The bushes strong shoots. Owing to the difficulty attending their culture, the English varieties are generally discarded, and an American seedling (Houghton's) which originated at Salem, Mass., is now largely cultivated. GOOSEBERRY, COROMANDEL See CARAM BOLA. GOOSEBERRY, PERUVIAN. See PHYSALIS. GOOSEBERRY CATERPILLAR, the larva of Abraxas grossulariata, a moth of a whitish colour, with yellow streaks, and spotted with black. The larva is beautifully coloured, with black and white stripes, and in its progression forms an elevated loop with its body. It feeds on the foliage of the gooseberry and currant.-Another moth, of which the caterpillar also feeds on the leaves of these shrubs, is Halias Vanaria. Both the moth and the caterpillar are smaller than the former. But more destructive than either of these is the larva of a saw-fly, Nematus ribesii, which deposits GOPHER WOOD-GORDIANUS. its eggs along the ribs on the under surface of the leaves; the larva is green and shagreened' with minute black tubercles. Many remedies have been proposed and tried to prevent the ravages of these larvæ, of which, perhaps, the best are picking off the leaves observed to be covered with the eggs of the saw-fly, and dusting with powder of white hellebore, which, if carefully and sufficiently applied, is most efficacious, killing any kind of larva. GO'PHER WOOD. The probable identity of the gopher wood of Scripture with the Cypress (q. v.), is maintained partly on account of the qualities of the wood, and partly on account of the agreement of the radical consonants of the names. GÖPPINGEN, a small town of the kingdom of Würtemberg, is situated on the right bank of the Fils, 27 miles north-west from Ulm, and is a station on the railway from Ulm to Stuttgart. It is an industrious, cleanly, and flourishing town, possessing a town-hall, a large castle, and mineral baths, and carrying on manufactures of woollen cloth, earthenwares, and some trade in wool. Pop. 5620. GORAL (Antilope Goral, or Nemorhedus Goral), an animal of the antelope family, inhabiting in large herds the elevated plains of Nepaul. It is of a grayish-brown colour, dotted with black, the cheeks white; the hair is short; the horns are short, inclined, recurved, and pointed. It is a wild and fleet animal, and when pursued, takes refuge in rocky heights. Its flesh is highly esteemed. GORAMY, or GOURAMI (Osphromenus gourami), a fish of the family Anabasida or Labyrinthibranchida, a native of China and the Eastern Archipelago, highly esteemed for the table, and which has on that account been introduced into Mauritius, Cayenne, and the French West India Islands. Its form is deep in proportion to its length, the head small, and terminating in a rather sharp short Goramy (Osphromenus olfax). snout, the mouth small, the tail rounded, the dorsal and anal fins having numerous rather short spines, the first ray of the ventral fins extending into a very long filament. It is sometimes kept in large jars by the Dutch residents in Java, and fed on water-plants. It was introduced into Mauritius about the middle of the 18th c., and soon spread from the tanks in which it was at first kept into the streams, multiplying abundantly. The success which has attended the introduction of this fish into countries remote from those in which it is indigenous, holds out great encouragement to other attempts of the same kind. The G. is interesting also on other accounts. It is one of the nest building fishes, and at the breeding season forms its nest by entangling the stems and leaves of aquatic grasses. Both the male and female watch the nest for a month or more with careful vigilance, and violently drive away every other fish which approaches, till the spawn is hatched, afterwards afford over. ing a similar parental protection to the young fry. See Rep. of Com. of Agriculture for 1866, pp. 417-423. GORDIAN-KNOT. The traditional origin of this famous knot was as follows: Gordius, a Phrygian peasant, was once ploughing in his fields, when an eagle settled on his yoke of oxen, and remained till the labour of the day was Surprised at so wonderful a phenomenon, by a prophetess of Telmissus that he should offer he sought an explanation of it, and was informed sacrifice to Zeus. He did so, and out of gratitude for the kindness shewn him, married the prophetess, by whom he had a son, the famous Midas. When Midas grew up, disturbances broke out in Phrygia, and the people sent messengers to the oracle at Delphi, to ask about choosing a new king. The messengers were informed that a king would come to them riding on a car, and that he would restore peace. Returning to Phrygia, they announced these things, and while the people were talking about them, Gordius, with his father, very opportunely arrived in the requisite manner. was immediately elected king, whereupon he dedicated his car and yoke to Zeus, in the acropolis of Gordium (a city named after himself), the knot of the yoke being tied in so skilful a manner, that an oracle declared whoever should unloose it would be ruler of all Asia. When Alexander the Great came to Gordium, he cut the knot in two with his sword, and applied the prophecy to himself. He GORDIA'NUS, the name of three Roman emperors, father, son, and grandson.-The first, MARCUS ANTONIUS G., was grandson of Annius Severus, and was descended by the father's side from the famous family of the Gracchi. He was remarkable for his attachment to literary pursuits. After being ædile, in which capacity he celebrated the gladiatorial sports with great magnificence, he twice filled the office of consul, first as the colleague of Caracalla, in 213 A. D.; and second, as the colleague of Alexander Severus. Soon afterwards, he was appointed proconsul of Africa, where he gained the affections and esteem of the people by his modest and gentle manners, his splendid liberality, and his refined literary taste; his old age was spent in the study of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Virgil. The tyranny and injustice of the Emperor Maximinus having at length excited a rebellion against his authority in Africa, the imperial procurator there was murdered by a band of nobles who had formed a conspiracy against him on account of his cruelty. G., now in his 80th year, was proclaimed emperor, after having vainly refused the dangerous honour. He received the title of Africanus, and his son was conjoined with him in the exercise of imperial authority. The Roman senate acknowledged both, and proclaimed Maximinus, then absent in Pannonia, an enemy to his country. The younger G., however, was defeated in battle by Capellianus, viceroy of Mauritania, before Carthage, and his father, in an agony of grief, put a period to his own existence, having been emperor for little more than a month. In his personal appearance, G. is said to have greatly resembled Augustus.--MARCUS ANTONIUS G., grandson of the preceding, was raised to the dignity of Cæsar along with Pupienus Maximus and Balbinus, who were also elected emperors in opposition to Maximinus; and, in the same year, after all three had fallen by the hands of their own soldiers, Marcus Antonius was elevated by the Prætorian bands to the rank of Augustus. Assisted by his father-in-law, Misitheus, a man distinguished for his wisdom, virtue, and courage, whom he made prefect of the GORDIUS-GORDON. Prætorians, he marched, in the year 242, into Asia, against the Persians, who, under Shahpur (Sapor), had taken possession of Mesopotamia, and had advanced into Syria. Antioch, which was threatened by them, was relieved by G., the Persians were obliged to withdraw from Syria beyond the Euphrates, and G. was just about to march into their country, when Misitheus died. Philip the Arabian, who succeeded Misitheus, stirred up dissatisfaction in the army against G. by the falsest treachery, and finally goaded on the ignorant and passionate soldiery to assassinate the emperor, 244 A. D. But knowing the great affection which the Roman people had for the gallant and amiable G., he declared in his dispatch to the senate that the latter had died a natural death, and that he himself had been unanimously chosen to succeed him. GO'RDIUS, a genus of Annelida, of the very simplest structure; very much elongated and threadlike, with no greater marks of articulation than slight transverse folds, no feet, no gills, no tentacles, although there is a knotted nervous chord. The mouth is a mere pore at one end of the animal; the other end or tail is slightly bifid, and has The species inhabit moist situations, are sometimes found on the leaves of plants, but more frequently in stagnant pools, and in mud or soft clay, through which they work their way with great ease. They often twist themselves into complex knots, whence their name G., from the celebrated Gordian-knot-and many of them are sometimes found thus twisted together; but they are also often to be found extended in the water. The most common species in Britain is G. aquaticus, of which the popular name is HAIR EEL; and a notion still prevails in many parts of the country, that it is nothing else than a horse-hair, which has somehow acquired life by long immersion in water, and which is destined in due course of time to become an eel of the ordinary kind and dimensions; in proof of all which many an honest observer is ready to present himself as an eye-witness who has often seen these very slender eels in his walks. A popular notion prevails in Sweden, that the When the pools in which the G. lives are dried up, it becomes shrivelled, and apparently lifeless, but revives on the application of moisture. The Abbé Fontana kept one in a drawer for three years, and although perfectly dry and hard, it soon recovered vigour on being put into water. Gordii are extremely common been often mistaken for the head. bite of the G. causes whitlow. in the Thames. GORDON, THE FAMILY OF. The origin of this great Scottish historical house is still wrapped in some measure of obscurity. Uncritical genealogists of the 17th c. affected to trace its descent from a mythical High Constable of Charlemagne, a Duke of Gordon, who, it was said, flourished about the year 800, and drew his lineage from the Gordoni, a tribe which, taking its name from the town of Gordunia, in Macedonia, had settled in Gaul before the days of Julius Cæsar. These fables and fancies have long ceased to be believed. Nor is more credit given to the conjecture that the family, having carried its name from Normandy to England in the train of the Conqueror, soon afterwards passed on from England to Scotland. No proof has been found of any connection between the Gordons of France and the Gordons of Scotland. There is little or no doubt now that the Scottish Gordons took their name from the lands of Gordon in Berwickshire. Their earliest historian, writing in the 16th c., says that these lands, together with the arms of three boars' heads, were given by King Malcolm Ceanmohr (1057— 1093 A. D.) to the progenitor of the house, as a reward for slaying, in the forest of Huntly, a wild boar, the terror of all the Merse. But in the 11th c., there were neither heraldic bearings in Scotland nor Gordons in Berwickshire. The first trace of the family is about the end of the 12th c., or the beginning of the 13th c., when it appears in record as witnessing charters by the great Earls of March or Dunbar, and as granting patches of land and rights of pasturage to the monks of Kelso. About a century afterwards, it enters the page of history in the person of Sir Adam of Gordon. He is found, in 1305, high in the con fidence of King Edward I. of England, holding under that prince the office of joint justiciar of Lothian, and sitting in the English council at Westminster as one of the representatives of Scotland. banner of Bruce, who rewarded his adherence, tardy He seems to have been among the last to join the Strathbogie. The grant failed of effect at the time; as it was, by a grant of the northern lordship of but it was renewed by King David II. in 1357, and by King Robert II. in 1376. Under this last renewal, Sir John of Gordon, the great-grandson of Sir Adam, entered into possession, and so transthe Merse and Teviotdale to the banks of the Dee, ferred the chief seat and power of the family from the Deveron, and the Spey. Its direct male line came to an end in his son Sir Adam, who fell at Homildon in 1402, leaving an only child, a daughter, to inherit his lands, but transmitting his name through two illegitimate brothers-John of Gordon of Scurdargue, and Thomas of Gordon of Ruthven and Strathbogie, who, calling themselves 'Gordons,' -to a wide circle of the gentry of Mar, Buchan, styled the descendants of their niece Seton Gordons.' HUNTLY, MARQUISES OF HUNTLY, AND DUKES OF LORDS OF GORDON AND BADENOCH, EARLS OF GORDON.-Elizabeth of Gordon, the heiress of Sir Adam, married before 1408 Alexander of Seton (the son of Sir William of Seton), who, before 1437, was created Lord of Gordon. Their son Alexander, who took the name of Gordon, was made Earl of Huntly in 1445, and Lord of Badenoch a few years of Cluny, Aboyne, and Glenmuick in Aberdeenshire; afterwards. He acquired by marriage the baronies and had grants from the crown of the Highland counties of Inverness and Moray. He died in 1470, lordship of Badenoch, and of other lands in the second earl, who married Annabella, daughter of and was succeeded by his second son George, the King James I., and added to the territories of his house the lands of Schivas in Aberdeenshire, and the Boyne, the Enzie, and Netherdale in Banffshire. He was chancellor of Scotland from 1498 to 1502, and dying soon afterwards, was succeeded by his son Alexander, the third earl, who enlarged the family domains by the acquisition of Strathaven (or Strathdoun) in Banffshire, and of the Brae of Lochaber in Inverness-shire. He commanded the left wing of the Scottish army at Flodden; and, escaping the carnage of that disastrous field, survived till the year 1524. He was succeeded by his grandson George, the fourth earl, under whom the family reached, perhaps, its highest pitch of power. He added the earldom of Moray to its already vast possessions, and long held the great offices of lieutenant of the north and chancellor of the realm. He had the repute of being the wisest, the wealthiest, and the most powerful subject in Scotland. The crown, it is said, was counselled to clip his wings, lest he should attempt, like the Douglasses in the previous age, to awe or overshadow the throne. He was stripped of the earldom of |