Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/434

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GOULD 370 GOZO GOULD, JAY, an American financier; bom in Roxbury, N. Y., May 27, 1836; was brought up on his father's farm; at- tended Hobart College a short time, ac- quired a taste for mathematics and sur- veying; made surveys of Ulster, Albany, and Delaware counties, and began his railroad career directly after the panic of 1857; invested in bonds of the Rutland and Washington railroad, and became president, treasurer, and superintendent of the road. Soon afterward he effected a consolidation of his road with the Rensselaer and Saratoga road, withdrew his capital, removed to New York, opened a broker's office, and began dealing in Erie stocks and bonds. In association with James Fisk, Jr., he entered the di- rectory of the company, and was elected president, with Fisk as vice-president and treasurer. On the reorganization of the company, 1872, he lost official con- nection with it. He then invested heavily in the various Pacific railroads, secured control of a number of important lines, built branches, and effected combinations which resulted in the establishment of what is known as the "Gould system." He died in New York City, Dec. 2, 1892, leaving property valued at $72,000,000. GOUNOD, CHARLES FRANCOIS (go-no'), a French composer; born in Paris, France, June 17, 1818. He studied at the conservatoire under Halevy, Lesueur, and Paer. Obtaining the first prize in 1839, he was sent to Rome and while there devoted himself chiefly to religious music. A "Solemn Mass," was the first work which brought him into general notice. His first opera, "Sap- pho," was produced in 1851. His comic opera, "The Physician in Spite of Him- self" (1858), was a great success; it was followed in 1859 by "Faust," his chief work, which raised its composer to the foremost rank of contemporary musi- cians. It was followed by "Philemon and Baucis" (18G0); "The Queen of Sheba" (1862); "Mireille" (1864); "Romeo and Juliet" (1867); "Polyeucte" (1878); "The Tribute of Zamora" (1881). He also published much church music, and was popular as a song-writer. From 1870 to 1875 he resided in England. He was a niem.ber of the Institute (1866), and a commander of the Legion of Honor (1877). He died in St. Cloud, France, Oct. 18, 1893. GOUROCK, a watering place of Ren- frewshire, Scotland, on the Firth of Clyde, 3 miles W. N. W. of Greenock, by a railway opened in 1889, since which time it has become the starting point of Irish and other steamers. At Kempoch Point here, behind v/hich rises Barrhill (478 feet), stands "Granny Kempoch." a prehistoric monolith associated with the witches of Renfrewshire (1662). In 1688 the first red herring ever cured in Great Britain was cured at Gourock. GOVERNMENT, the form of policy in a state; the mode of system according to which the legislature, executive, and judicial powers are vested and exercised; a system of laws and customs; a consti- tution. There are numerous forms of government; as aristocracy, democracy, despotism, monarchy, oligarchy, repub- licanism, etc. Also the council or body of persons intrusted with the administra- tion of the laws; the management of home and foreign affairs, and generally the public business of a state; the admin- istration; the ministry; the executive power. GOVERNOR'S ISLAND, a small is- land at the main entrance of Boston Harbor; Fort Winthrop is built on it. Also an island in New York harbor; Fort Williams, the headquarters of the Military Department of the East, U. S. A., is built on it. GOWER, JOHN, an early English poet, a contemporary and friend of Chaucer; born about 1330. His chief works are his "Thinker's Mirror," "Voice of One Crying," and "Lover's Confession," of which the first was a moral tract rela- tive to the conjugal duties, written in French rhymes (now lost) ; the second a metrical chronicle of the insurrection of the commons under Richard II., in Latin elegaic verse; and the third an English poem in eight books, containing 30,000 lines, relative to the morals and metaphysics of love, one of the earliest products of the English press, being printed by Caxton in 1483. He died about 1408. GOYAZ (go-yaz') , the central state of Brazil, in the dry plateau region, rising in the S. to an important range of moun- tains; area 288,546 square miles; pop. about 542,000. The Tocantins river trav- erses most of the state from S. to N., and receives the Araguay, which forms the W. boundary; the S. frontier is mai'ked by the Paranahyba. The climate in the S. is healthy, but in the N. malignant fe- vers are common, and the cattle are sub- ject to goiter. Stock-raising is the chief industry. GOZO (got'so), an island in the Medi- terranean, 4 miles N. W. of Malta and belonging to Great Britain; v/ith the ad- jacent smaller island of Comino, area 26 square miles; pop. over 20,000. The sur- face is hilly, but the soil fertile. Chief town Rabato, near the center of the island.