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lar. In Feb. 1730 he was invited to London and ordained. The following year he commenced an intimacy with sir Richard Ellys, bart. (see ELLYs) and became his chaplain, taking the lead in family worship. Lady Ellys continued him in the same office, with an annual present of forty guineas, until her second marriage in 1745. One of Mr. Gifford's sermons preached in commemoration of the great wind in 1703, and published in 1734, was dedicated to sir Richard. In 1754 Mr. Gifford received the degree of D.D. from Marischal college, Aberdeen. His favourite study was that of antiquities, and although at no time a man of opulence, he made a very large collection of curious books, MSS. coins, &c. for which he gave liberal prices. It is said that his collection of coins, which was a very valuable one, was purchased by George II. as an addition to his own cabinet. His reputation as an antiquary, recommended him to the situation of assistant librarian of the British Museum in 1757, in which he was placed by the interest of the lord chancellor Hardwicke, and some other friends, but not, as his biographer says, by that of sir Richard Ellys, who had been dead some years before this period. To a man of literary curiosity and taste, no situation can be more interesting than that of librarian in the British Museum, and Mr. Gifford knew how to improve the opportunities which it affords. Having the talent to receive and communicate information with unaffected politeness, his acquaintance among the nobility and gentry soon became extensive. Some of them honoured him by a mutual exchange of friendly visits, and others of the first rank discovered their respect for him, either by an occasional attendance on his ministry, or by an obliging correspondence and intimacy. Amongst these were the marquis of Lothian, the earl of Halifax, lord Dartmouth, lady Buchan, lady Huntingdon, &c.

As a minister, his sentiments were of the Calvinistic kind, as put forth by the elders of the baptist churches in and about London in 1677 and 1689. His preaching was sincere, lively, and pathetic; and his faculties remained so long unimpaired, that it was generally said, "he would die popular," which proved true, although this is seldom the lot of the dissenting clergy, their flocks too often deserting them when their strength begins to fail, and their powers of popular attraction to relax. For the last twentyfive years of his life, he preached a monthly lecture at the

meeting in Little St. Helen's, in connection with several ministers of the Independent persuasion. The last time he administered the Lord's Supper was on June 6, 1784, when he was very weak and low. On the following evening, he preached a sermon to the " Friendly Society" which meet at Eagle-street, when he took an affectionate leave of them, and of all farther public duties. He died June 19th following, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, and was buried in Bunhill Fields. He left 400l. to the above meeting in Eagle-street, and his books, pictures, and manuscripts to the baptist academy at Bristol, where they are buried in comparative obscurity. Dr. Gifford published nothing of his own, except the sermon above mentioned, but was frequently a contributor to literary undertakings. In 1763 he superintended through the press, and enlarged the edition of Folkes's "Tables of English silver and gold Coins," printed at the expence of the Society of Antiquaries, 2 vols. 4to. To this he added the Supplement, the Postscript, and six plates.'

GIGGEIUS, or GIGGEO (ANTHONY), a learned Italian, who flourished in the early part of the seventeenth century, was admitted to the degree of doctor by the Ambrosian college at Milan. He was author of a Latin translation of the "Commentary of the three Rabbins on the Proverbs of Solomon," Milan, 1620, 4to; but his better known work is his "Thesaurus Linguæ Arabicæ, seu Lexicon ArabicoLatinum," 1632, 4 vols. fol. As a recompence for the learning and industry which it exhibited, pope Urban VIII. nominated the author to an honourable post in a college at Rome; but he died in 1632, before he could enter upon its functions.2

GILBERT (SIR HUMPHREY), a brave officer and navigator, was born in 1539, in Devonshire, of an ancient family, and though a second son, inherited a considerable fortune from his father. He was educated at Eton, and afterwards at Oxford, but is not mentioned by Wood, and probably did not remain long there. His destination was the law, for which purpose he was to have been sent to finish his studies in the Temple; but being introduced at court by his aunt, Mrs. Catherine Ashley, then in the queen's service, he was encouraged to embrace a military

1 Rippon's Funeral Sermon.-Nichols's Bowyer.-Gent. Mag. vol. LIV. Abridgment of Tiraboschi, by Londi, vol. V.-Dict. Hist.

life. Having distinguished himself in several expeditions, particularly in that to Newhaven, in 1563, he was sent over to Ireland to assist in suppressing a rebellion excited by James Fitzmorris; and for his signal services he was made commander in chief and governor of Munster, and knighted by the lord-deputy, sir Henry Sidney, on Jan. 1, 1570, and not by queen Elizabeth in 1577, as Prince asserts. He returned soon after to England, where he married a rich heiress. In 1572 he sailed with a squadron of nine ships, to reinforce colonel Morgan, who at that time meditated the recovery of Flushing; and when he came home he published in 1576, his "Discourse to prove a passage by the North-west to Cathaia, and the East Indies," Lond. This treatise, which is a masterly performance, is preserved in Hakluyt's Voyages. The style is superior to most writers of that age, and shows the author to have been a man of considerable reading. The celebrated Frobisher sailed the same year, probably in consequence of this publication. In 1578, sir Humphrey obtained from the queen a very ample patent, empowering him to discover and possess in North America any lands then unsettled. He accordingly sailed to Newfoundland, but soon returned to England without success; yet, in 1583, he embarked a second time with five ships, the largest of which put back on occasion of a contagious distemper on board. Gilbert landed at Newfoundland, Aug. 3, and two days after took possession of the harbour of St. John's. By virtue of his patent he granted leases to several people; but though none of them remained there at that time, they settled afterwards in consequence of these leases, so that sir Humphrey deserves to be remembered as the real founder of our American possessions. His half-brother, sir Walter Raleigh, was a joint adventurer on this expedition, and upon sir Humphrey's death took out a patent of the same nature, and sailed to Virginia. On the 20th August in the above year (1583), sir Humphrey put to sea again, on board of a small sloop, for the purpose of exploring the coast. After this he steered homeward in the midst of a tempestuous sea, and on the 9th of September, when his small bark was in the utmost danger of foundering, he was seen by the crew of the other ship sitting in the stern of the vessel, with a book in his hand, and was heard to cry out, "Courage, my lads! we are as near heaven at sea as at land." About midnight the bark was

swallowed up by the ocean; the gallant knight and all his men perished with her. He was a man of quick parts, a brave soldier, a good mathematician, and of a very enterprizing genius. He was also remarkable for his eloquent and patriotic speeches both in the English and Irish parlia ments. At the close of the work above-mentioned, he speaks of another treatise "On Navigation," which he intended to publish, but which is probably lost.'

GILBERT (SIR JEFFRAY), knt. lord chief baron of the exchequer, and an eminent law writer, was born Oct. 10, 1674. Of his family, education, or early life, it has been found impossible to recover any information. Either in 1714, or 1715, for even this circumstance is not clearly ascertained, he was appointed one of the judges of the court of king's bench in Ireland, and within a year was promoted to the dignity of chief baron of the exchequer in that kingdom, which office he held till the beginning of 1722, when he was recalled. During his residence there, he was engaged in an arduous and delicate contest concerning the ultimate judicial tribunal to which the inhabitants were to resort, which was disputed between the English house of lords and the Irish house of lords; and he appears to have been taken into custody by the order of the latter, for having enforced an order of the English house in the case of Annesley versus Sherlock, "contrary to the final judgment and determination of that house." It appears by the style of this last order of the Irish house of lords, that he was a privy counsellor of that kingdom; and it is noticed in his epitaph, that a tender was made to him of the great seal, which he declining, returned to England. Here he was first called to the degree of an English serjeant at law, preparatory, according to ancient usage, to his taking his seat as one of the barons of the exchequer, in which he succeeded sir James Montague in June 1722. Having remained in that station for three years, he was in Jau. 1724 appointed one of the commissioners of the great seal in the room of lord Macclesfield, his colleagues being sir Joseph Jekyll and sir Robert Raymond. The great seal continued in commission till June 1, 1725, when sir Peter King was constituted lord keeper, and on the same day sir Jeffray Gilbert became, on the appointment of sir Robert Eyre to the chief-justiceship of the commonpleas, lord chief baron, which office he filled until his

Biog. Brit. Prince's Worthies of Devon-Lloyd's State Worthies.

death, Oct. 14, 1726, at an age which may be called early, if compared with the multitude and extent of his writings, which were all left by him in manuscript.

In the only character extant of him, it is said that "he filled up every station of life with the greatest integrity and most untainted honour; and discharged the duties of his profession to the general satisfaction of all that had any opportunity of observing his conduct. Nor did his speedy advancement from one post to another procure him the envy even of the gentlemen of the long robe, who constantly paid him the regard that is due to the greatest merit when he was alive, and by whom the loss of him is now as generally regretted. The skill and experience he had in the laws of his country, and the uncommon pénetration he discovered in the decision of such causes of équity as came before him, were not more known in Westminster-hall, than his unwearied pursuit of mathematical studies (when his affairs would permit), as well as his fine taste of the more polite parts of learning, were to men of the most exalted genius in either." He was interred in a vault built for the purpose in the abbey church at Bath, in which city he died. A monument was afterwards erected to his memory in the Temple church, London. His works are, . "Law of Devises, last Wills, and Revocations," Lond. 1730, 8vo, reprinted 1756 and 1773. 2. "The Law of Uses and Trusts," 1734, 8vo, reprinted 1741. 3. "The Law and Practice of Ejectments," 1734, 8vo, reprinted 1741 and 1781, by Charles Runnington, esq. 4. "Reports of Cases in Equity and Exchequer," 1734, reprinted 1742, fol. 5. "Law and Practice of Distresses and Replevins," no date, reprinted 1780, and 1794, by William Hunt, esq. 6. " History and Practice of Civil Actions in the Common-pleas," 1737, 1761, and 1779. 7. "Treatise of the Court of Exchequer," partly printed in 1738, 8vo, but completely in 1753. 8. "Treatise of Tenures," third edition, 1757, 8vo. 9. "Treatise of Rents," 8vo. 10. "History and Practice of the high court of Chancery," 1758, 8vo. An erroneous Irish edition had preceded this. 11. "Cases in Law and Equity," 1760, 8vo. 12. "The Law of Executions," &c. 1763, 8vo. 13. "Theory or Law of Evidence," 1761, 8vo, reprinted a fourth time in 1777, again in 1791, 1792, and 1796, 4 vols. 8vo, by Capel Lofft, esq. with some account of the life of the author, from which the present article is taken,

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