drunk of the potion described in poetic fiction, which made men forget their country." In 1744 he found it necessary, from the resignation of his colleagues and his inability to find proper successors, to tender his resignation; and, according to Horace Walpole, he "retired from St James's laughing." Shortly before this he had, by the death of his mother, become Earl Granville. His administration was popularly distinguished by the epithet "drunken" a title which had reference to his character both as a politician and as a private individual. Notwithstanding his want of political success, contemporary opinion is unanimous in affirming that he was not only the most brilliant debater but the ablest statesman of his time. Chatham declared that he owed all that he was to his friendship and instruction, and Swift, Smollett, Chesterfield, and Horace Walpole have borne equally laudatory testimony to his abilities. He was besides regarded as an authority in questions of scholarship by the most eminent classicists of his time, and Beritley was greatly indebted to his assistance in preparing his edition of Homer. His fatal defects appear to have been his careless arrogance and his deficiency in definite political principle and purpose. After the resignation of the Pelham ministry he was again appointed secretary of state, but almost immediately resigned, holding office, according to a political squib, for only forty-eight hours, three quarters, seven minutes, and eleven seconds. In 1749 he was created knight of the garter and appointed president of the council; but, though he retained his influence with the king, the part he thenceforth played in English politics was indirect and subordinate. He died January 2, 1763.
Various information regarding Earl Granville will be found in Chesterfield's Characters; Lord Hervey's Memoirs of the Reign of George II.; Horace Walpole's Letters and Memoirs of the Reign of George II.; and the Autobiography of Shelburne. See also Lecky's History of England in the Eighteenth Century.
GRAPE. See Vine.
GRAPHOTYPE is a name which has been given to an ingenious process of autographic engraving, by which typographic printing blocks are produced. The general principles of the process are as follows. A block of chalk or some similar material is reduced to a level surface, and on this surface a design is drawn with a glutinous ink, this ink being sufficiently fluid to penetrate some little distance into the porous chalk. The ink having become dry, gentle friction is applied to the surface of the block, so as gradually to rub away those parts of the chalk which are not indurated by the glutinous ink. The lines of the drawing being thus left in relief, a perfect model of the required printing block is obtained, and this model is next hardened by immersion in a bath containing a solution of an alkaline silicate, after which it is dried and reproduced by the stereotype or the electrotype process. This method of typographic engraving was brought to a practical form, and patented in 1860 (No. 2309) by an American wood engraver, Mr de Witt Clinton Hitchcock. The first step in his process is to reduce French chalk or talc to an extremely fine state of division by repeated grindings, elutriations, and siftings, after which a layer of the material, rather over an eighth of an inch in thickness, is forced down upon, and made to adhere to, a thick zinc plate, the necessary pressure being obtained by means of an hydraulic press, the platen of which is faced with a polished steel plate, so as to communicate a good surface to the layer of compressed French chalk. The device is now drawn (of course, reversed) on the prepared block with an ink consisting of a weak solution of glue coloured by lamp black or some other pigment. In drawing on the prepared block care must be taken not to damage the somewhat tender surface of the compressed chalk, and the safest instrument with which to apply the glutinous ink is a fine sable brush, but an ordinary pen may be employed if the operation of drawing is performed with caution. A pad of silk velvet or a fitch brush may be used for rubbing the block so as to leave the lines in relief, and it is quite sufficient to continue the friction until a depth equal to the thickness of an ordinary playing card is produced, the spaces corresponding to any extended whites of the engraving being then cut out by means of a tool. A 10 per cent, solution of silicate of sodium may be used for hardening the block, and when dry nothing remains but to take a mould from it and to reproduce it in metal.
GRASLITZ, or Grasslitz (Bohemian Kraslice), a town in the north-west of Bohemia, near the Saxon frontier, in the circle of Elbogen, 88 miles N.W. of Prague, 50 21 N. lat,, 12 27 E. long., is advantageously situated in a valley between high hills, at the confluence of the Silberbach and Zwoda. It is the headquarters of a military district, the seat of a court of justice, and has a custom-house, a handsome church built in 1618 and dedicated to Corpus Christi, and several manufactories of cotton and woollen stuffs, and of musical and mathematical instruments, look ing-glasses, brass, copper, and wire goods, and paper. Graslitz is one of the most important industrial towns in Bohemia, and the centre of the lace-weaving districts of the Erzgebirge, In 1869 the population, inclusive of the small suburb of Glasberg, amounted to 6549.
GRASSE, a town of France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Alpes-Maritimes, 20 miles W. of Nice. It occupies a picturesque situation on the southern declivity of a hill facing the Mediterranean, from which it is about 7 miles distant; and it possesses a climate remark ably mild and salubrious. It is well supplied with water from a rivulet which rises above it. The streets are narrow, steep, and winding, but the houses are generally well built. The town was formerly the seat of a bishop, and possesses a Gothic cathedral with a beautiful tower, an old chapel dating from the 11th century, now used as a powder magazine, a hospital, a town-hall, an exchange, a theatre, a communal college, and a public library. The chapel of the hospital contains three pictures by Rubens. Next to Paris, Grasse carries on the largest manufacture of perfumery in France. Citrons, oranges, lemons, figs, pomegranates, and the flowers used by the perfumers, are grown in the gardens of the town and neighbourhood, and fine marble, alabaster, and jasper are found in the vicinity. Grasse was founded in the 6th century by Jews from Sardinia. The population in 1876 was 9673.
GRASSES (Gramineæ—Gramina) are monocotyledonous flowering-plants, possessing certain characters in common, and constituting the order Graminece. No plant is correctly termed a grass which is not a member of this family, but the word is in common language also used, generally in combination, for many plants of widely different affinities which possess some resemblance (often slight) in foliage to truly graminaceous species; e.g., knot-grass (Polygonum aviculare), cotton-grass (Eriophorum), rib-grass (Plantago), scorpion-grass (Myosotis sea-grass (Zostera). In agriculture the word has an extended signification to include the various fodder-plants, chiefly leguminous, often called "artificial grasses" (see AGRICULTURE). Indeed, formerly grass (also spelt goers, gres, gi/rs, in the old herbals) meant any green herbaceous plant of small size. Yet the first attempts at a classification of plants recognized and separated a group considered even of primary value of Gramina, and this, though bounded by nothing more definite than habit and general appearance, contained the Gramineo? of modern botanists. The older group, however, even with such systematists as Ray (1703), Scheuchzer (1719), and Micheli (1729), embraced in addition the Cyperacece, Juncacece, and some other mono-
