the most notable of which is one on the miracles of the Virgin Mary. The whole, with one slight exception, are written in the metrical form which was popular for at least two centuries afterwards, called by Berceo the quaderna via, consisting of stanzas of four lines each, the same rhyme being maintained through all the four.—F. M. W.
GONSALVO FERNANDEZ de Cordova (sometimes called of Aquilar), surnamed the Great Captain, was one of the renowned generals who maintained the fame of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. He was born at Montilla in 1453, of a leading family in Cordova, and was the youngest of two brothers. At the time when he came to man's estate the country was distracted by the rival claims to the throne of Castile of Isabel, then recently married to Ferdinand of Arragon, and of Joanna, the reputed daughter of Henry IV. Gonzalo presented himself at Segovia, with a splendour far exceeding his means, to espouse the cause of Isabel. His first campaign was in the war against Portugal, under Alonzo de Cardenas, grand master of St. Iago. But it was in the wars with the Moors of Granada in 1486 that he first acquired fame. He was foremost at the capture of Tajara, Illora, and Monte Frio, and nearly lost his life in a skirmish before Granada. He was chosen to conduct the negotiations for a surrender of the place, and afterwards, in 1492, returned to the court laden with riches and favour. The keen eye of Isabel singled out Gonzalo, when next, in 1495, Ferdinand had need of a skilful general to head an expedition to Sicily intended to thwart the designs of Charles VIII. of France. Gonzalo arrived at Messina at the head of the Spanish contingent, consisting of six hundred lances, and one thousand five hundred foot, besides those employed in the fleet. Crossing over to Calabria, he effected a junction with the forces of Ferdinand, and first joined battle with the French near Seminara; his own judgment, which was against venturing an engagement, being overruled by the impetuosity of the king. This was the only engagement in which Gonzalo failed to obtain a victory. Gonzalo made his way to Reggio, and speedily overran the whole of Upper Calabria, but was summoned by Ferdinand to assist in reducing the French army, which now held out at Atella, maintaining a precarious communication with the rich supplies of the interior. His military tact enabled him to cut off the enemy's resources, and a capitulation was signed, 21st July, 1496, by which the French army was to be entirely withdrawn from Italy. Ferdinand died September 7, 1496, and was succeeded by Frederick. Gonzalo, after relieving the seaport of Ostia, and making a triumphal entry into Rome, returned to Sicily, and reached Spain in August, 1498. An eventful, but brief campaign in Granada, soon occupied his attention, and in 1500 we find him again leading the war in Sicily, but with objects entirely changed. Ferdinand the Catholic, ever since the peace with France, had entertained a scheme for dividing with his powerful rival the kingdom of Naples. Louis XII., meanwhile, had inherited the throne and the policy of Charles VIII. In May, 1500, Gonzalo, at the head of the flower of Spanish chivalry, sailed from Malaga, and first attacked the island of Cephalonia, which he rescued from the Turks, and restored to Venice. The unfortunate Frederick was compelled, in October, 1501, to resign his crown, and accept of the duchy of Anjou and a splendid pension. It is a blot on the chivalry of Gonzalo, that he not only seized upon the Calabrian dominions he had won for the father of Frederick, but, after his abdication, detained his son, the duke of Calabria, and sent him a prisoner to Spain. The French king soon resolved to conquer, if possible, the whole kingdom of Naples and Sicily for himself. He blockaded Gonzalo in the old town of Barletta, where his troops were almost driven to mutiny by privation and exposure. The Chevalier Bayard was one of the champions of France in the skirmishes and single combats which here took place. After long delay, strengthened by reinforcements from Spain, and successful in attempts to snatch several towns from the superior foe, Gonzalo resolved to direct his march on Naples, April 28, 1503. The battle of Cerignola proved a complete victory for the Spaniards, and within a day or two an equally important success at Seminara crowned their arms. On the 14th of May Gonzalo entered Naples, and received the submission of the city to his master, Ferdinand. The genius and energy by which the conquest of the whole kingdom was consolidated resulted in the peace of Lyons, 11th February, 1504, by which the military career of Gonzalo was terminated. The death of Isabella some months later, November 26, 1504, left free scope for the suspicious disposition of King Ferdinand, and in 1506 the latter set sail for Naples, with a view to reduce the power of his formidable viceroy. They met at Genoa, and the king pursued his route to Naples, where the imposts he exacted gave his new subjects little cause for congratulation. With specious expressions of goodwill, Gonzalo was recalled, and having munificently discharged the debts of many of his companions-in-arms, by sacrificing a part of the domains granted to him, he followed the king to Spain, but found mistrust and insult awaiting him. The grand mastership of St. Iago, which had been promised him, was withheld. He retired to his estates in the south, chiefly residing at Loja, where his residence was the resort of celebrated men in every department. In 1512, at the urgent request of the pope and the other allies of Ferdinand, he was again placed at the head of an expedition to Italy, but, alarmed at the enthusiasm excited by his choice, the king summarily disbanded the army that had flocked to the standard of the Great Captain. Stung with the insult, Gonzalo asked permission to retire to his estates in Naples; but this being refused, he spent the rest of his life at Loja, engaged in plans for the ameliorating the condition of his tenants and neighbours. He expired of a quartan ague on the 2nd December, 1515, at Granada, in the arms of his wife and his daughter Elvira. Gonzalo was one of the finest specimens of the chivalry of the time. A skilful general as well as a brave warrior, a generous friend, and the object of almost blind idolatry to his soldiers, he showed himself none the less an able and farseeing administrator. In his latter years he added to his military laurels the honours of peaceful labour in various directions. The one blot on his fame, the breach of faith with the young duke of Calabria, must be primarily charged on his subtle and selfish master.—F. M. W.
GOOD, John Mason, M.D., was born in 1764, at Epping in Essex, where his father was an Independent minister. He was apprenticed to a general practitioner at Gosport, and in 1783 went to London, where he pursued his professional studies at Guy's hospital; and in the following year entered into partnership with a medical man at Sudbury in Suffolk. Having become involved in pecuniary difficulties, he removed to London in 1793, and became a member of the College of Surgeons. He added to his income by numerous literary and professional works, and was a large contributor to some of the reviews—chiefly to the Analytical and the Critical, of which latter review he was for some time the editor. In 1805 he was elected F.R.S.; and both his medical and literary reputation became gradually so well established, that in 1820 he determined to relinquish general practice, and took the degree of M.D. at Marischal college, Aberdeen. In 1822 he became a licentiate of the London College of Physicians; and died, after a long and painful illness, at the beginning of 1827. Besides contributing to various periodical publications, Dr. Good was the writer of several works relating to medicine, divinity, and classical literature; all of which are now more or less forgotten, but which have secured for their author a respectable place in the list of learned physicians. His unusual industry and energy, joined to his methodical habits, enabled him to complete in a great measure his originally defective education; so that, besides being well-acquainted with the physical sciences, he acquired a knowledge of several ancient and modern languages, though it may be doubted whether he knew any of them critically and thoroughly. The following are his principal works:—
1. On Medical Subjects, &c.—"A Dissertation on the Diseases of Prisons and Poor-houses," a prize essay, published at the request of the Medical Society of London, 1795; a "History of Medicine, so far as it relates to the Profession of the Apothecary, from the earliest accounts to the present period," 1795; another prize essay, "On Medical Technology," to which was awarded the Fothergillian medal, and which appeared in the Transactions of the Medical Society of London, 1808. This is an attempt to do away with the anomalies and absurdities of medical nomenclature. His suggestions have not been adopted; but his own proposed medical terms are for the most part far superior in etymological correctness to the generality of newly-invented technical terms in the present day. This and the kindred subject of the arrangement of diseases continued to occupy Dr. Good's attention for some years; and in 1817 he published "A Physiological System of Nosology, with a Corrected and Simplified Nomenclature." It is a work of great, though inaccurate learning, and was favourably received on its first publication.
