GORE GORGES 113 TO works under her own name, besides several which were published anonymously. Of her novels the best known are " Mrs. Armytage," "The Diary of a Desennuyee," "Cecil, or the Adventures of a Coxcomb," and its sequel, " Ormington, or Cecil a Peer," "The Banker's Wife," "Pin Money," "Peers and Parvenus," " Preferment, or my Uncle the Peer," " Temp- tation and Atonement," "Mother and Daugh- ter," "Opera, a Tale of the Beau Monde," "Woman of Business," and "Woman of the World." Among her other works are "Paris, Picturesque and Romantic," " Sketch Book of Fashion," " Sketches of English Character," several translations from the French, among which is the "Rose Fancier's Manual," and a number of dramas. Her last work was "The Two Aristocracies " (1857). GORE, Christopher, an American statesman, born in Boston, Sept. 21, 1758, died at Wal- tham, March 1, 1827. He graduated at Har- vard college in 1776, studied law, and was soon engaged in good practice. In 1789 he was appointed -the first United States district attor- ney for Massachusetts ; in 1796 he was chosen one of the commissioners to settle the claims of the United States upon Great Britain for spoliations, and remained in London, success- fully engaged in the duties of this office, about eight years; in 1803 he acted as charge d'affaires ; in 1809 was chosen governor of Massachusetts ; and in 1814 was elected to the United States senate, where he served about three years. He left the most of his property to Harvard college. GOREE, a small island belonging to France, on the W. coast of Africa, 1^ m. S. of Cape Verd, and separated from the continent by the strait of Dacar ; pop. about 5,000. It is 3 m. in circumference, and is nothing more than a basaltic rock, which in some places is several hundred feet high. The fort occupies an ele- vated flat near the centre of the island, and the town a sandy plain at the foot of the rock. The roadstead is well sheltered, and affords safe anchorage for eight months of the year. The climate is healthy. In 1869 the imports amounted to 10,692,000, and the exports to 7,270,000 francs; there were 578 arrivals of vessels, and 600 clearances. GORGES, Sir Ferdinando, lord proprietary of the province of Maine, born in Somersetshire, England, died at an advanced age in 1647. He was a partner in the conspiracy of the earl of Essex, against whom he testified on his trial in 1601. During the war with Spain he served in the navy, and after the peace, in 1604, was appointed governor of Plymouth. When Way- mouth returned in 1605 from his voyage to North America, and brought with him five In- dian captives, Gorges took three of them into his house, caused them to be instructed in the English language, obtained information from them of their native country, and determined to become a proprietor of domains beyond the Atlantic. He persuaded Sir John Popham, lord chief justice of England, to share his in- tentions, while at the same time influential per- sons in London were desiring to renew the at- tempts which had been made by Raleigh in Virginia. A joint application was arranged, and in 1606 the king incorporated two com- panies, the first called the London colony, and the second the Plymouth colony, between which was divided the territory extending 50 miles inland from the 34th to the 45th parallel N. lat. The Plymouth colony had the north- ern portion, which was styled North Virginia. An exploring ship was sent out by Gorges, but was captured by the Spaniards. Three ships with 100 settlers sailed from Plymouth, May 31, 1607, and reached the mouth of the Kenne- bec in Maine, where they began a settlement, which was abandoned the next spring. In 1614 Gorges engaged Capt. John Smith, who had already visited North Virginia (which he called New England), in the service of the Plymouth company. He set sail for New Eng- land with two ships in March, 1615, but his own was dismasted and returned to port, and Capt. Dermer in the smaller vessel made the voyage, but soon returned. Other attempts of Smith were unsuccessful, but in 1616 Gorges sent out a party, which encamped on the river Saco through the winter, and in 1619-'20 Capt. Dermer again made the voyage. In 1620 Gor- ges and his associates obtained a new incorpo- ration for " the governing of New England in America," which was empowered to hold ter- ritory extending westward from sea to sea be- tween the 40th and 48th parallels N. lat. Gor- ges himself united with John Mason in taking grants of the district called Laconia, bounded by the Merrimack, the Kennebec, the ocean, and " the river of Canada," and under his auspices several settlements were attempted. His son, Capt. Robert Gorges, was appointed in 1623 by the council for New England " general gov- ernor of the country." This council resigned its charter to the king in 1635, surrendering the administration of its domains to a governor general to be appointed by him, and Gorges vainly expected this appointment. He now determined to establish a miniature sovereignty on his own domain. To this end he obtained from the king a charter constituting him lord proprietary of the province of Maine, with ex- traordinary governmental powers, which were to be transmissible with the property to his heirs and assigns. He sent his son Thomas to be deputy governor, and the officers took an oath of allegiance to the lord proprietary. The province was divided into two counties, of which Agamenticus (now York) and Saco were respectively the principal settlements ; the former received a city charter as Gorgeana in 1642. When the four New England colo- nies formed a confederacy in 1 643, the settle- ments of Gorges were excluded from it, " be- cause," says Winthrop, "they ran a different course from us both in their ministry and their civil administration," and because the proprie-
