describe and inform, by the vague medium of instrumental sounds. In 1750 he went to Paris, where he continued about five years, after which he returned to England and published a new edition of his two first sets of concertos. In 1761 he visited Ireland, in order to spend some time with his favourite and much attached pupil, Dubourg. He had spent many years in compiling an elaborate treatise on music, which he designed for publication, but soon after his arrival in Dublin, by the treachery of a female servant, the manuscript was purloined, and could never afterwards be recovered. The magnitude of his loss, and his inability to repair it, made a deep impression on his mind, and seemed to hasten fast his dissolution. He died at Dublin on the 17th of September, 1762, supposed to have been in the eighty-third year of his age.—E. F. R.
GEMISTUS, Georgius, called also Pletho, was one of the most eminent of the later Byzantine writers. The date of his birth is still unknown, but he flourished between 1350 and 1450, and is said to have lived for about a hundred years. He is supposed to have been born in Constantinople, but the greater part of his life was spent in the Peloponnesus. In 1426 he was in high favour with the Emperor Manuel Palæologus, and he was sent in 1438 as one of the deputies of the Greek church to the council that was held at Florence under Pope Eugenius IV., with a view to reconcile the hostile churches. Gemistus, at first opposed to this project, ultimately became one of its warmest advocates. His visit to Florence was destined to leave a deep and enduring mark on the history of European thought. Celebrated as a theologian, he was even more renowned as a philosopher; and mainly to the learning and the labours of Gemistus was it owing that the Platonic philosophy, long neglected or despised, again began to have its due influence upon the minds of men. Among his disciples was the famous Cardinal Bessarion; and gradually a Platonic school arose at Florence, which uttered an eloquent and wholesome protest against the dry and meagre verbal dogmatism into which the Aristotelian philosophy had gradually become degraded. Gemistus, however, a thorough Neoplatonist, went further than his followers; and it would seem that the charge brought against him of wishing to substitute a new version of the ancient paganism in the place of christianity, was well founded. His book of "The Laws," in which his most matured and deliberate opinions were recorded, was destroyed after his death by the patriarch of Constantinople, who judged it hostile to the christian religion. The last notice of him in history is that, in 1441, he was serving as a public functionary in the Peloponnesus. Gemistus was a ready writer, and left a great number of works on widely-different subjects. Amongst them were his "Explanation of the Magical Oracles of Zoroaster;" his book on "The Virtues;" his treatise on the "Difference between the Platonic and Aristotelian Philosophies;" and various writings of a historical or geographical character. Some of his productions still remain in manuscript in continental libraries.—W. J. P.
GEMMINGEN, Otto Heinrich, a German dramatic writer, born at Heilbronn in 1753. He adopted the profession of the law, which he soon forsook for a court life. He was appointed chamberlain to the count palatine, and for a time resided at Mannheim. As minister to the duke of Baden he assisted at the congress of Rastadt, and was commissioned to represent the interests of the duchy at Vienna. Returning to Baden in 1803, he devoted himself exclusively to study and to dramatic composition. He died in 1836.—R. D. B.
GENCE, Jean Baptiste Modeste, born at Amiens in 1755; died at Paris in 1840. He received his classical education under Sells and De Lille. He had read the famous book of the Imitation of Christ in early childhood, and becoming possessed of what he regarded as a valuable manuscript of the work, he felt that it was his peculiar mission to publish a correct edition of it, and to fix the authorship. He spent thirty years of travel in search of editions and in the adjustment of the text, and he satisfied himself, and tried to satisfy the world, that Gerson, chancellor of the university of Paris, was the author; that the monk Gersen to whom it had been ascribed had no existence; and that Thomas à Kempis was no better than he should be. Gence edited some books of civil law and some of the classics, and was a sort of corrector of the press to the Imprimerie Imperiale. The return of the Bourbons deprived him of this office, and he returned to his old mania of Gerson and the Imitation, He published numberless tracts about it, wrote lives of Gerson in several journals, and left the matter with much less approach to decision than the agitated question of the Letters of Junius.—J. A., D.
* GENDEBIEN, Alexander, a Belgian politician, son of John Francis Gendebien, also a noted political character, and the descendant of an old Flemish family distinguished for many generations as ultra-liberals, was born at Brussels in 1799. Having received a careful education at home he went to the bar, and gifted with considerable oratorical talent, soon acquired a large practice. At an early age he took part in the political discussions of his country, lending his pen to the chief opposition papers, among others the Courrier des Pays-Bas, and his voice to the persecuted of all parties, particularly distinguishing himself in the trial of De Potter in 1829. He took a leading part in the revolution of 1830, occupying for some time the post of minister of justice in the provisional government. His aim was to constitute Belgium a republic; but, baffled by the opposition of his colleagues, he accepted a compromise, and in December, 1830, went in company with M. De Weyer to Paris, to offer the crown, under certain restrictions, to the duke de Nemours, second son of Louis Philippe. Unsuccessful also in this scheme, he impeded as much as possible the election of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. When the latter was chosen king, Gendebien transferred his opposition to the ministers.—F. M.
GENDRE, LE. See Legendre.
* GENDRIN, Auguste Nicolas, a French physician, was born at Châteaudun in 1796. He studied at Paris, and received his doctor's degree in 1821. A treatise on the nature of fevers gained him a prize from the Society of Medicine of Paris in 1823. Other prizes were subsequently awarded him by the Academy of Sciences for his "Histoire anatomique des Inflammations," and his "Monographie du Choléra Morbus épidémique de Paris." Gendrin has also written a "Traité philosophique de Médecine pratique," and edited the Journal de médecine, chirurgie et pharmacie française et étrangères.—R. M., A.
GENEBRARD, Gilbert, a learned French benedictine born at Riom in 1537; died prior of the monastery of Semur in Burgundy in 1597. He pursued his studies at Paris under Turnebus and other distinguished ecclesiastics, and for several years occupied the chair of Hebrew in the royal college. In consequence of a disappointment in the matter of a bishopric—which had been vacated expressly for his benefit, but which eventually passed to a rival claimant—Genebrard joined the confederation against Henry IV., who got rid of him by a decree of banishment. Gregory XVI. gave him the archbishopric of Aix in 1592. Among his works, which were principally translations, there was a French version of Josephus.—J. S., G.
* GENELLI, Bonaventura, German painter and designer, was born at Berlin in 1803. He received his earliest lessons in art from his father, a painter of Italian descent, studied in the Berlin academy for two years, and then proceeded to Rome, where he enrolled himself among the scholars of Cornelius and Overbeck. Returning to Germany in 1832, he settled first in Leipsic, and three or four years later in Munich, where he has produced the long succession of designs which have given him a European reputation. Among the best known of these are "The Vision of Ezekiel;" "Samson and Dalilah;" "Æsop reciting his Fables;" "The Life of a Prodigal;" "Don Quixote;" a "Tiger with her Young;" a series of twenty-five etchings for the Homer of Voss; and thirty-six etchings to Dante.—J. T—e.
GENERALI, Pietro, an eminent composer, was born at Masserano in Piedmont, October 4, 1783. His real name was Mercandetti. It was changed at Rome, where he was conveyed by his parents when two years old. He was taught music by Giovanni Massi in the latter city, and early evinced considerable genius. His first productions were masses, psalms, and other compositions for the church; but he soon turned his attention to the theatre. His first opera, "Gli amanti ridicoli," was represented at Rome in 1800, when the young composer was in his seventeenth year. The success was decided. In 1802 he visited Bologna and Venice, producing operas at each place. In 1805 he went to Milan, and in 1807 to Naples and Florence. His works were everywhere received with welcome, but in Venice with enthusiasm. He several times visited this city. In 1817 he undertook the musical direction of the theatre at Barcelona, where he remained three years. Many of his operas, which had been performed in other cities, were here revived with success. In 1821 he returned to Italy and produced several new operas
