which is navigable thence to the Thames, and on the high road between London and Portsmouth. Steep hills, finely wooded, enclose the valley. The chief public buildings are the church of SS. Peter and Paul, a cruciform building of mixed architecture, but principally Early English and Perpendicular; the town-hall, Victoria hall, and market-house, and a technical institute and school of science and art. Charterhouse School, one of the principal English public schools, originally founded in 1611, was transferred from Charterhouse Square, London, to Godalming in 1872. It stands within grounds 92 acres in extent, half a mile north of Godalming, and consists of spacious buildings in Gothic style, with a chapel, library and hall, besides boarding-houses, masters’ houses and sanatoria. (See Charterhouse.) Godalming has manufactures of paper, leather, parchment and hosiery, and some trade in corn, malt, bark, hoops and timber; and the Bargate stone, of which the parish church is built, is still quarried. The borough is under a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 812 acres.
Godalming (Godelminge) belonged to King Alfred, and was a royal manor at the time of Domesday. The manor belonged to the see of Salisbury in the middle ages, but reverted to the crown in the time of Henry VIII. Godalming was incorporated by Elizabeth in 1574, when the borough originated. The charter was confirmed by James I. in 1620, and a fresh charter was granted by Charles II. in 1666. The borough was never represented in parliament. The bishop of Salisbury in 1300 received the grant of a weekly market to be held on Mondays: the day was altered to Wednesday by Elizabeth’s charter. The bishop’s grant included a fair at the feast of St Peter and St Paul (29th of June). Another fair at Candlemas (2nd of February) was granted by Elizabeth. The market is still held. The making of cloth, particularly Hampshire kerseys, was the staple industry of Godalming in the middle ages, but it began to decay early in the 17th century and by 1850 was practically extinct. As in other cases, dyeing was subsidiary to the cloth industry. Tanning, introduced in the 15th century, survives. The present manufacture of fleecy hosiery dates from the end of the 18th century.
GODARD, BENJAMIN LOUIS PAUL (1849–1895), French
composer, was born in Paris, on the 18th of August 1849. He
studied at the Conservatoire, and competed for the Prix de
Rome without success in 1866 and 1867. He began by publishing
a number of songs, many of which are charming, such as “Je
ne veux pas d’autres choses,” “Ninon,” “Chanson de Florian,”
also a quantity of piano pieces, some chamber music, including
several violin sonatas, a trio for piano and strings, a quartet for
strings, a violin concerto and a second work of the same kind
entitled “Concerto Romantique.” Godard’s chance arrived in
the year 1878, when with his dramatic cantata, Le Tasse, he shared
with M. Théodore Dubois the honour of winning the musical
competition instituted by the city of Paris. From that time
until his death Godard composed a surprisingly large number of
works, including four operas, Pedro de Zalamea, produced at
Antwerp in 1884; Jocelyn, given in Paris at the Théâtre du
Château d’Eau, in 1888; Dante, played at the Opéra Comique
two years later; and La Vivandière, left unfinished and partly
scored by another hand. This last work was heard at the Opéra
Comique in 1895, and has been played in England by the Carl
Rosa Opera Company. His other works include the “Symphonie légendaire,” “Symphonie gothique,” “Diane” and various
orchestral works. Godard’s productivity was enormous, and his
compositions are, for this reason only, decidedly unequal. He
was at his best in works of smaller dimensions, and has left many
exquisite songs. Among his more ambitious works the “Symphonie
légendaire” may be singled out as being one of the most
distinctive. He had a decided individuality, and his premature
death at Cannes on the 10th of January 1895 was a loss to
French art.
GODAVARI, a river of central and western India. It flows across the Deccan from the Western to the Eastern Ghats; its
total length is 900 m., the estimated area of its drainage basin,
112,200 sq. m. Its traditional source is on the side of a hill
behind the village of Trimbak in Nasik district, Bombay, where
the water runs into a reservoir from the lips of an image. But
according to popular legend it proceeds from the same ultimate
source as the Ganges, though underground. Its course is generally
south-easterly. After passing through Nasik district, it
crosses into the dominions of the nizam of Hyderabad. When
it again strikes British territory it is joined by the Pranhita,
with its tributaries the Wardha, the Penganga and Wainganga.
For some distance it flows between the nizam’s dominions and
the Upper Godavari district, and receives the Indravati, the Tal
and the Sabari. The stream has here a channel varying from
1 to 2 m. in breadth, occasionally broken by alluvial islands.
Parallel to the river stretch long ranges of hills. Below the
junction of the Sabari the channel begins to contract. The
flanking hills gradually close in on both sides, and the result is
a magnificent gorge only 200 yds. wide through which the water
flows into the plain of the delta, about 60 m. from the sea. The
head of the delta is at the village of Dowlaishweram, where the
main stream is crossed by the irrigation anicut. The river has
seven mouths, the largest being the Gautami Godavari. The
Godavari is regarded as peculiarly sacred, and once every twelve
years the great bathing festival called Pushkaram is held on its
banks at Rajahmundry.
The upper waters of the Godavari are scarcely utilized for irrigation, but the entire delta has been turned into a garden of perennial crops by means of the anicut at Dowlaishweram, constructed by Sir Arthur Cotton, from which three main canals are drawn off. The river channel here is 312 m. wide. The anicut is a substantial mass of stone, bedded in lime cement, about 214 m. long, 130 ft. broad at the base, and 12 ft. high. The stream is thus pent back so as to supply a volume of 3000 cubic ft. of water per second during its low season, and 12,000 cubic ft. at time of flood. The main canals have a total length of 493 m., irrigating 662,000 acres, and all navigable; and there are 1929 m. of distributary channels. In 1864 water-communication was opened between the deltas of the Godavari and Kistna. Rocky barriers and rapids obstruct navigation in the upper portion of the Godavari. Attempts have been made to construct canals round these barriers with little success, and the undertaking has been abandoned.
GODAVARI, a district of British India, in the north-east of the Madras presidency. It was remodelled in 1907–1908, when part of it was transferred to Kistna district. Its present area is 5634 sq. m. Its territory now lies mainly east of the Godavari river, including the entire delta, with a long narrow strip extending up its valley. The apex of the delta is at Dowlaishweram, where a great dam renders the waters
available for irrigation. Between this point and the coast there is a vast extent of rice fields. Farther inland, and enclosing the valley of the great river, are low hills, steep and forest-clad. The north-eastern part, known as the Agency tract, is occupied by spurs of the Eastern Ghats. The coast is low, sandy and swampy, the sea very shallow, so that vessels
must lie nearly 5 m. from Cocanada, the chief port. The Sabari is the principal tributary of the Godavari within the district. The Godavari often rises in destructive floods. The population of the present area in 1901 was 1,445,961. In the old district the increase during the last decade was 11%. The chief towns are Cocanada and Rajahmundry. The forests are of great value; coal is known, and graphite is worked. The population is principally occupied in agriculture, the principal crops being rice, oil-seeds, tobacco and sugar. The cigars known in England as Lunkas are partly made from tobacco grown on lankas or islands in the river Godavari. Sugar (from the juice of the palmyra palm) and rum are made by European processes at Samalkot. The administrative headquarters are now at Cocanada, the chief seaport; but Rajahmundry, at the head of the delta, is the old capital. A large but decreasing trade is conducted at Cocanada, rice being shipped to Mauritius and Ceylon, and cotton and oil-seeds to Europe. Rice-cleaning mills have been established here and at other places. The district is traversed by the main line of the East Coast railway, with a branch to Cocanada; the iron girder bridge of forty-two spans over the
