GRO

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GRO

heights. An irregular groin is where one of the arches is semi-circular, and the other semielliptical.

GROLL, a town ftf Batavia, in the department of the Rhine ,and late county ofZutphen, 19miles E, ofZutphen, and 19 S.S.VV.of Oldenzeel.

GROMETS, in die sea-language, small rings formerly fastenedwith staples to the yards, to make fast the gaskets, hut now neverused.

GRONINGEN, the most northerly of the late Seven UnitedProvinces , was about 47 miles long, and 33 miles broad. It hasrich pastures, large herds of cattle, plenty of sea and river fish,and of turf, with some Forests and corn land.

Groningen , a strong city of Batavia, in the department ofEems, and late capital ot the above province.

GltONOVIA, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order,and pentandria class of plants; natural order, Cucurbitaceae . Pe-tals live, together with the stamens inserted into the bell-shaped'corolla ; berry dry, inferior, containing one seed. There is butone species, viz. G. scandens, climbing gronovia, an annualplant.

GRONOYIUS, John Frederic, a very learned critic, wasborn at Hamburgh in 1613; and having travelled through Gcr- !many, Italy, and France , was made professor of polite learning atDeventer , and afterwards at Levden, where lie died in 1671.lie published, 1. Diatribe in Statii, &c. 2. De Sestertiis. 3.Correct editions of Seneca, Statius, Livy’s, Pliny’s Natural His-tory, Tacitus, Aulus Gellius , Pha-drus, Sic. with notes; and otherworks.

Gronovius, James, son of the preceding, and a very learned ;man, was educated tirst at Leyden, then went over to England, jw here he visited the universities, consulted lha curious MSS. andformed an acquaintance with several learned men. He waschosen by the grand duke to be professor at Pisa , w ith a consider- ■able salary. He returned into Holland, after he had resided twovears in Tuscany , and consulted the MSS. in the Medicean li-brary'. In 1679, he was invited by the curators of the universityto a professorship ; and his inaugural dissertation was so highly !approved of, that the curators added 400 florins to his stipend,and continued it to his death in 1716. His principal works are,“The Treasure of Greek Antiquities,” in 13vols. folio; and agreat number of dissertations and editions of ancient authors. Hewas compared to Schioppus for the virulence of his style ; andthe severity, with which he treated other great men who differedfrom him, exposed him to just censure.

GROOM, a name particularly applied to several superior of-ficers belonging to the king’s household, as groom of the chamber,groom of the stole. ,

Groom-Porter, an officer of the king’s houshold, who pro-vides chairs, stools, and firing, for the king’s lodging, and alsofurnishes cards, dice, &c. and decides the disputes which arise atplay.

Groom is more particularly used for a servant appointed to at-tend on horses in the stable. It is his business to feed and waterthem, to curry and rub them down, and to keep a watchful eye.over them, that they may have no inward or outward disorder,without his discovering it, and using his endeavours to remove it.

GROOVE, among miners, is the shaft or pit sunk into theearth, sometimes in the vein, add sometimes not.

Groove, among joiners, the channel made by their plough inthe edge of a moulding, style, or rail, to put their pannels in, inwainscotting.

Groove also denotes a gardener’s tool for transplanting plants.

GROSE, Francis, Esq. F. A. S. an eminent English anti-quary, the son of Erancis Grose, Esq. jeweller, of Richmond, whofitted up the coronation-crow n of king George II . He was bomin 1731, and was left an independent fortune ; but had not a dispo-sition to preserve it. He wrote, 1, The Antiquities of Englandand Wales , in 8 vols. 4to. and 8vo, which he began in 1773, andcompleted in 1787; containing 389 views, besides 40 plans, &e.2. The Antiquities of Scotland, 2 vols4to. and 8vo, containing 190views with a map. 3. The Antiquities of Ireland , 2 vols. 4to. andSvo. 4. A Treatise on Ancient Armour and M capons, 4to. 1785;with a supplement in 1789. 5. A Classical Dictionary of the Vul-gar Tongue ; Svo. 1783. 6. Military Antiquities; 2 vols. 4to.

1786—bfi. 7. The History of Dover Castle; 4to. 1786. 8. A

Provincial Glossary, with a collection of Local Proverbs and Po-pular Superstitions ; 8vo. 1788. 9. A Guide to Health, Beauty,

Honour, and Riches; Svo. 10. Rules for Drawing Caricatures;Svo. 1788: 11. The Olio; a collection of Essays; 8vo. in sum-mer, 1789, he set out on a tour in Scotland , and began to commu-nicate his observations in folio numbers, with four plates each, in1790. Before he had completed this work, he went to Dublin ,with the intention of executing a similar work, with views and de-scriptions of the antiquities of Ireland , executed in the same elegantmanner with those of Great Britain : hut being seized with an apo-plectic fit, at the house of Mr. Hone in Dublin , he died on the12th May, 1791, aged about 60. He had a great talent for draw-ing, which peculiarly qualified him for executing the works inwhich he engaged ; and, being of an agreeable, humorous, andcommunicative disposition, he was much esteemed in the exten-sive circle of his friends. He visited almost every part of the threekingdoms, and was every where well received. His humour wasof that genuine kind, which exhilarates without oilending eitheragainst virtue or good manners;

GROSS, a foreign money, in divers countries, answering to ourgroat.

Gross, [Grossus,] in our ancient law-writers, denotes a thingabsolute, and not depending on another. Thus, villain in gross,villanus in grosso, was a servant, who did not belong to the land,but immediately to the person of the lord; or a servile person notappendant or annexed to the land or manor, and to go along withthe tenures as appurtenant to it; but like other personal goods andchattels of his lord, at his lord’s pleasure and disposal.

Gross Weight, the weight of merchandizes and goods, withtheir dust and dross, as also of the bag, cask, chest, Sic. whereinthey are contained ; out of which gross weight, allowance is to bemade of tare and tret.

GROTESQUE, or GROTESK, in sculpture and painting,something whimsical, extravagant, and monstrous; consisting eitherof things that arc merely imaginary or so distorted, as to raise sur-prise and ridicule. The word owes its derivation from figures ofthis kind, being anciently much used to adorn the grottos whereinthe tombs of eminent persons were inclosed. Such was that ofOvid, whose grotto was discovered near Rome about 100 years

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GROT IUS, Hugo, or more properly Hugh de Groot, oneof the greatest men of his age, was born at Delft in 1583. Hemade so rapid a progress in his studies, that at 15 he had attainedgreat knowledge in philosophy, divinity, and civil law ; and a yetgreater proficiency in polite literature, as appeared by the com-mentary he had made at that age on iVIartiamis Capella. In 1598,he accompanied the Dutch ambassador into France , and washonoured with several marks of esteem by Henry IV . He tookhis degree of LL. D. in that kingdom; and at his return to hisnative country, pleaded at the bar before he was 17 years of age.lie was not 24 when he was appointed attorney-general. In 1613he settled at Rotterdam , and was nominated syndic of that city;but did not accept of the office, till a promise was made him thathe should not be removed from it, This prudent precaution hetook from his foreseeing, that the quarrels of the divines on thedoctrine of grace,, which had already given rise to many factions inthe state, would occasion revolutions in the chief cities. Thesame year he was sent to England, on account of the divisions thatreigned between the traders of the two nations, on the right of fish-ing in the northern seas ; but he could obtain no satisfaction. Hewas afterwards sent to England, to persuade the king and the prin-cipal divines to favour the Arminians; and he had several con-ferences with K. James I. on that subject. On his return to Hol-land, his attachment to Barnevelt involved him in great (rouble ;lor he was seized, and sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in1619, and to forfeit all his goods and chattels. But alter havingbeen treated with great rigour for above a year and a half in hisconfinement, he was delivered by the advice and artifice of hiswi;e, who having observed that his keepers had often fatiguedthemselves with searching and examining a great trunk full of f.uillinen, which used lo be washed at Gorkum , but now let it passwithout opening it, she advised him to. bore holes in it to preventhis beingstifled, and then to get into it. He complied w ith thisadvice, and was carried to a friend’s house in Gorkum ; wheredressing himsclt like a mason, and takiug a rule and trowel, he