Gibbou, Esq., and Judith, daughter of — Porten, Esq. merchant, of London. His family was descended from John Gibbon, architect to Edward III., who possessed lands in Kent. His constitution till his fifteenth year was extremely feeble, as were those of his brethren and sisters, who all died in infancy: and he complains that the chain of his education was broken, as often as he was called from the school of learning to the bed of sickness.' To the care and attention of his maternal aunt he ascribes his preservation from a premature death. In 1745 he was sent to the grammar-school at Kingston; in January, 1749, to that of Westminster; and in April, 1752, to Oxford, where he matriculated in Magdalen College; the professors of which he blames greatly for their remissness and inattention to his moral conduct and principles. In consequence of this he became a convert to the Roman Catholic faith in his sixteenth year. To cure the young Catholic of his errors, and bring him back to the Protestant faith, his father, within three weeks after his conversion (June 30th, 1753) sent him to Switzerland, and entrusted him to the tutorage of Mr. Pavilliard, a Calvinist minister at Lausanne, whom Mr. Gibbon mentions with gratitude, as a most excellent preceptor. Under his tuition he made rapid progress in the Latin, Greek, and French classics; in history, geography, logic, and metaphysics; and was also soon reclaimed from the errors of popery; so that on Christmas, 1754, he received the sacrament in the church of Lausanne. Thus had he communicated with three different churches before he was eighteen years old. These jarring opinions, however, successively adopted and rejected, and the repeated changes so rapidly made from the one to the other, perhaps contributed to weaken our author's faith in revelation, and to lead to his final change to deism, as much as his perusal of M. Voltaire's writings, or his conversation with that author, to whom he introduced himself in 1757. About this time Mr. Gibbon fell in love with Mad. Susan Curchod, daughter of the minister of Crassay, a lady whom he describes as possessed of every accomplishment, corporeal and mental, that can adorn a woman. But, though the consent of the young lady and her parents was easily obtained, yet his father's tyrannical veto, to which, after a painful struggle,' he submitted, deprived him of this inestimable treasure, and of matrimonial felicity for life. The lady was afterwards married to the celebrated M. Neckar. In spring, 1758, he was recalled to England, and well received by his father; at whose house at Beriton, in Hampshire, he finished a work he had begun at Lausanne, entitled Essai sur l'étude de la Literature, which he published in 1761, 12mo., with a dedication to his father. Previous to this period, he had been appointed a captain in the South Hampshire militia, in which he served two years, and which contributed to make him better acquainted with English manners, principles, and parties. At the peace in 1763 he went abroad; and after visiting Paris, where he was introduced to Messrs. D'Alembert and Diderot, returned to his favorite residence at Lausanne. Having spent some time there, he made the tour of Italy; and at Rome on the 15th of October, 1764, while musing amidst the ruins of the capitol, the idea of his great work first started into his mind. Upon his return to Hampshire in June, 1765, he found his father involved in pecuniary difficulties, and, to relieve him, consented to the sale of part of the estate. After commencing a history of the revolutions of Switzerland, which he suppressed, he engaged in a journal entitled Memoires Literaires de la Grand Bretagne, and published 2 vols. for 1767 and 1768; but his partner in this undertaking, a native of Switzerland, going abroad, when the third volume was nearly finished, the work was discontinued. Bishop Warburton having about this time published an Interpretation of the Sixth Book of Virgil's Eneid, he criticised it with equal asperity and success. Of his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the 1st vol. was published in 1776, and met with extraordinary success; the 2d and 3d vols. appeared in 1781; and the 4th, 5th, and 6th, in 1787, established Mr. Gibbon's fame as an historian. Encomiums were lavished on him from all quarters by Mr. Hume, Dr. Robertson, Dr. Watson, Zimmerman, &c. The last represents Mr. Gibbon as even excelling both those eminent historians in point of style. All the dignity,' he adds, all the charms of historic style are united in Gibbon; his periods are melody itself, and all his thoughts have nerve and vigor.' But others, while they give our author full credit for acuteness of penetration, fertility of genius, luxuriance of fancy, elegance of style, harmony of language, and beauty of epithets, &c., object that the uniform stateliness of his diction sometimes imparts to his narrative a degree of obscurity, unless he descends to the miserable expedient of a note to explain the minuter circumstances,' and that his style on the whole is much too artificial; which gives a degree of monotony to his periods, that extends almost to the turn of his thoughts.' But a more serious objection, it has been added, is his attack upon Christianity; the loose and disrespectful manner in which he mentions many points of morality, regarded as important on the principles of natural religion; and the indecent allusions and expressions which too often occur in the work. An argumentative attack upon Christianity will never, merely as such, he condemned or shunned by the Christian; on the other hand, the attack is never to be carried on in an insidious manner, and with improper weapons: indeed Christianity itself, so far from dreading, will invite every mode of fair and candid discussion. But our historian often makes, when he cannot readily find, an opportunity to insult the Christian religion. Such indeed is his eagerness in the cause, that he stoops to the most despicable pun, or to the most awkward perversion of language, for the pleasure of turning the Scripture into ribaldry, or calling Jesus an impostor. Yet of the Christian religion has Mr. Gibbon himself observed, that it contains a pure, benevolent, and universal system of ethics, adapted to every duty and every condition of life.' Various answers to Mr. Gibbon's attack on Christianity were published by Dr. Chelsam, Dr. Randolph, lord Hailes, Dr. Watson, bishop of Llandaff, Dr. White, Mr. Apthorpe, Mr. Davis, Mr. Taylor, Dr. Priestley, and others. To most of these our author made no reply, though his posthumous memoirs show that he felt the weight of some of them. Our author, however, was no friend to new opinions in politics. Being introduced into the house of commons as M. P. for Liskeard in 1774, he uniformly supported administration with his vote, during the American war; and upon the French revolution he adopted Mr. Burke's creed, in every thing but his reverence for church establishments. Soon after the downfal of lord North's administration, he returned to Lausanne; but his Swiss friend dying, and French politics prevailing in Berne, he left his Paradise, as he styled it, and returned to London in June, 1793. He did not however enjoy this retreat long. His constitution had suffered much from repeated attacks of the gout, and a swelling of his ancles; and, after having been often tapped for a hydrocele, he died at London, of the gout in his stomach, on the 16th of January, 1794, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. GIBBONS (Grinling), a celebrated modern carver and statuary, was born in London of Dutch parents about the middle of the last century. He was patronised both by Charles II., and James II.; and gave to wood and coin, to marble and to bronze, the lightness of flowers. His principal remaining works are, the wooden throne at Canterbury, the monument of viscount Camden, at Exton in Rutlandshire, the font in St. James's Church, the statue of Charles II. at Charing Cross, and that of James II. in the Privy Garden. He died in 1721. GIBBONS (Thomas), D. D., a dissenting minister of some popularity, was born in 1720 at Swaffham, Norfolk. He became in 1742 pastor of an Independent meeting-house in Silver-street, London; but the next year removed to Haberdasher's Hall. In 1754 he was one of the tutors of the Mile End Academy, and in 1764 received He a diploma from the university of Aberdeen died in 1785; having published,-1. Juvenilia; or Poems on Several Occasions. 2. Family Sermons, 8vo. 3. A System of Rhetoric, 8vo. 4. Female Worthies; or the Lives of Pious Women, 2 vols., 8vo. 5. Memoirs of Dr. Isaac Watts, 8vo. After his death, three volumes of his sermons were published. GIBBOSITY,n.s. Fr. gibbosité; Latin GIB'BOUS, adj. gibbus. An astronomical GIB BOUSNESS, n. s. term implying convexity; inequality. Crookbacked; deformed; a promi rence. I demand how the camels of Bactria came to have two bunches on their back, whereas the camels of Arabia have but one? How oxen in some countries began and continue gibbous or hunch-backed? Browne. A pointed flinty rock, all bare and black, cent water? The sea, by this access and recess, shuffling the empty shells, wears them away, reducing those that are concave and gibbous to a fiat. Woodward's Natural History. To make the convexity of the earth discernible, suppose a man lifted in the air, that he may have a spacious horizon; but then, because of the distance, the convexity and gibbousness would vanish away, and he would only see? great circular flat. Bentley's Sermons. GIBBOSITY, in surgery, denotes any protuberance, or convexity of the body, as in a person hump-backed. Infants are much more subject to gibbosity than adults, and it oftener proceeds froin external than internal causes. A fall, blow, or the like, frequently thus distorts the tender bones of infants. When it proceeds from an internal cause, it is generally from a relaxation of the ligaments that sustain the spine, or a caries of its vertebræ; though the spine may be inflected forward, and the vertebrae thrown out, by a too strong and repeated action of the abdominal muscles. This, if not timely redressed, grows up and fixes as the bones harden, till in adults it is totally irretrievable: but when the disorder is recent, and the person young, there are hopes of a cure. GIRBOUS, in astronomy, is used in respect to the enlightening parts of the moon, whilst she is moving from the first quarter to the full, and from the full to the last quarter: for all that time the dark part appears horned or falcated; and the light one hunched out, convex, or gib bous. GIBBS (James), A. M., a celebrated Scott.sh architect, born at Aberdeen in 1674. His father was a merchant of that city, and, parties running high about 1688, he named his two dogs Whig and Tory, in ridicule of both parties;-an offence for which the magistrates of Aberdeen summoned him before them, and condemned the two dogs to be hanged at the cross! Young Gibbs was educated at the Marischal College, where he took his degree of A. M. About 1694 he travelled into Holland, where he spent some years with an eminent architect; and where, in 1700, he was introduced to the earl of Mar, who generously assisted him with money and recommendatory letters, to enable him to complete himself under the best Italian masters. About 1710 he left Italy, and returned to England, where he found his noble patron in favor with the queen. An act being passed for building fifty new churches, Mr. Gibbs was employed, and gave a specimen of his abilities by planning and executing St. Martin's Church, St. Mary's in the Strand, and several others. Among many other beautiful edifices planned by him, and built by his direction, we shall only mention the Radcliffe Library at Oxford; the King's College, Royal Library, and Senate House at Cambridge; and the duke of Newcastle's monument. He died 5th of August, 1754, leaving a fortune of £15,000. GIBBS (Vicary), an English lawyer and judge of molern celebrity, was born in 1752 at Exeter, in which city his father was a surgeon. He was educated at Eton and King's College Cambridge In 1772 he obtained on the royal foundation. a Craven scholarship. After this, entering himself of Lincoln's Inn, he contracted an acquaintance with Mr Dunning, afterwards lord Ashburton, whose patronage became important to him. He succeeded Mr. Burke in the recordership of the city of Bristol, and was an able and eloquent pleader at the bar. His exertions on the trials of Tooke, Hardy, Thelwall, &c, in particular, ranked him high in his profession; and he proceeded rapidly through the situations of chief justice of Chester, solicitor, and attorney-general (on accepting which last office he was knighted), till, being raised to the bench, he was, in 1814, finally elevated to the dignity of lord chief justice of the common pleas. Sir Vicary only filled this last post about four years, when his infirmities compelled him to resign. He survived about two years, and died in the month of February, GI BINGLY, adv. Belg. gabbirn; Ital. gabbare. dicule; taunt; upbraid; or sneer. When he saw her toy, and gibe, and geer, And pass the bounds of modest merry make, Her dalliance he despised. Spenser. They seem to imagine that we have erected of late a framo of some new religion, the furniture whereof we should not have borrowed from our enemies, lest they should afterwards laugh and gibe at our party. Hooker. Mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns That dwell in every region of his face. Shakspeare. You are well understood to be a more perfect giber of the table, than a necessary bencher of the capitol. Id. Coriolanus. Why, that's the way to choke a gibing spirit, Whose influence is begot of that loose grace Which shallow laughing hearers give to fools. Shakspeare. His present portance Gibingly and ungravely he did fashion After the inveterate hate he bears to you. Id. He is a giber, and our present business Is of more serious consequence. Ben Jonson. The good man was by nature gay Could gibe and joke as well as pray. Somerville. built upon a hill as its name imports. This city gave birth to Saul, the first king of Israel, for which reason it is often called Gibeah of Saul. GIBEON, a city seated on an eminence about forty furlongs north of Jerusalem, and not far from Gibeah. It was the capital of the Gibeonites. GIBEONITES, an ancient nation of Canaan, who, hearing of Joshua's great conquests, saved their lives at the expense of their liberty, by a representation that they belonged to a very remote country, and desired to make an alliance with the Hebrews. See Joshua ix. 3-27. The Gibeonites were descended from the Hivites, and possessed four cities; viz. Chephirah, Beeroth, Kirjathjearim, and Gibeon; which were afterwards given to the Benjamites, except the last, which fell to the tribe of Judah. The Gibeonites continued subject to those burdens which Joshua had imposed on them, and were very faithful to the Israelites till the dispersion of that nation. GIB'LETS, n. s. Minsheu says, from gobbet, a good mouthful; Mr. Thomson refers us to the Saxon giblai; M. Goth. gibla, a wing; according to Junius, more properly from Fr. gibier, game. The parts of a goose which are cut off before it is roasted. 'Tis holyday; provide me better cheer: "Tis holyday; and shall be round the year: Shall I my household gods and genius cheat, To make him rich who grudges me my meat? That he may loll at ease; and pampered high, When I am laid, may feed on giblet pie? Dryden. GIBRALTAR, a promontory, and important fortress, in the south of Spain, at the entrance from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean. It is in fact a great rocky mountain, about three miles in length from north to south, from half to three-fourths of a mile in width, and from 1200 to 1400 feet in height. On the north side is an isthmus, about a mile and a half in length, and half as much in breadth, which connects this vast mass of rock with the continent. Its northern front is almost perpendicular; and the east side is full of precipices, while the south, being narrow and abrupt, presents hardly any possibility of approach even to an enemy in command of the sea. On none of these sides has this fortress ever been attacked; there remains only the western front, which is almost as abrupt as the others, but which may be approached in shipping from the bay, and on a level part of which the town is built. The rock is in general calcareous; and, on blowing it up, fossil bones and teeth have been found, which at first were supposed to be human, but are now known to belong to quadrupeds The rock has also several caverns, of which that of St. Michael on the west, is the largest; it is 1110 feet above the level of the sea. The rain water continually filtrates through, and forms stalactites, some of which extend from the roof to the bottom, forming columns two feet in diameter, and which continually increase in bulk. Excavations have been formed in the rock by blasting, capable of holding the entire garrison of 6000 men; and these subterranean barracks communicate with all the batteries by passages of the same kind, all of which may be traversed on horseback. Eight bomb-proof cisterns, each containing 40,000 tons, are kept constantly full of water, by collecting all the little runs on the west side of the rock, and the water is allowed to deposit its sediment in immense troughs before it is let into the cisterns. The bay of Gibraltar is nine miles long, and five broad, and forms a convenient and wellprotected naval station. One side is formed by the promontory and isthmus; to the south is the sea; the other sides of the bay (the west and north) are formed by the main land of Spain, but the command of the whole depends on the possession of the promontory. The town of Gibraltar consists of a principal street, from half to three-quarters of a mile long, and containing 12,000 inhabitants, English, Spaniards, and Jews; each religion being fully tolerated. It is surrounded by a strong wall, supported by bastions and other works, and was formerly under strict military regulations, no inhabitant being allowed to be out of his home after eleven o'clock, without express permission from the governor; and neither hawkers nor beggars were permitted in it. The abuses and vexations consequent to this species of government, induced the parliament to erect it into a body corporate, and the civil power is now lodged in its magistrates. Its chief protection is derived from the batteries on the neighbouring heights, which sweep both the isthmus and the approach to the town by water. In the last siege the town was almost entirely destroyed, but it was afterwards rebuilt on an improved and enlarged plan. The houses have flat roofs, and bow windows are used generally for shops; they are painted black, to blunt the dazzling rays of the sun, with a white stripe to mark each story or floor. Out of the main streets the inhabitants are much crowded, as was exemplified in the rapid spreading of a contagious fever, communicated from Cadiz in 1804, which swept off many thousand inhabitants; the military escaped only from the observance of the strictest precautions, and from their being lodged on higher ground. The climate of Gibraltar is qualified by the vicinity of the sea, and less hot than might be expected in the latitude of 36°. Cottons, and other manufactures, are its imports from England; sugar, rum, and other produce, from the West Indies; tobacco, rice, and flour, from North America; while wine, fruits, silk, wax, and other Mediterranean articles, are brought in from the east. The port is formed by moles of considerable extent. The chief public buildings are the navy hospital, the victualling office, barracks, and governor's house. The places of worship an English church, Catholic chapel, and three synagogues; here is also a small but elegant playhouse; and a respectable garrison library. This important fortress seems to have been first particularly noticed as a place of consequence in the year 712. At that time the general of the caliph Al Walid landed with an army of 12,000 men on the isthmus between the general of the the continent; and, that he might secure an in tercourse with Africa, ordered a castle to be built on the face of the hill. Part of the building still remains: and, from an inscription discovered above the principal gate, appears to have been finished in 725. It continued in the possession of the Saracens till 1310, when it was taken by Perez de Guzman, under Ferdinand IV. king of Castile. In 1333, however, it was surrendered to the son of the emperor of Fez, who came to the assistance of the Moorish king of Granada. An attempt was made upon it in 1349 by Alphonso XI., king of Castile; but, when the fortress had been reduced to the last extremity, a pestilential fever broke out in the Spanish camp, which carried off the king himself, with great part of his army; after which the enterprise was abandoned. The fortress continued in the possession of the Saracens of Fez until 1410, when it was taken by Joseph III. king of Granada. A design of attacking it was formed by Henry de Guzman in 1435; but, the enterprise miscarried through his imprudence, and he was defeated and slain. However it was at length taken, after a gallant defence, by his son John de Guzman in 1462; since which time it has remained in the hands of Europeans. In 1540 Gibraltar was surprised and pillaged by Piali Hamet, one of Barbarossa's corsairs; but the pirates, having fallen in with some Sicilian galleys, were by them defeated, and all either killed or taken. In the reign of Charles V. the fortifications of Gibraltar were modernised, and such additions made as to render them almost impregnable. But in 1704, in consequence of the resolution adopted by the court of Britain to assist the archduke Charles in his pretensions to the Spanish crown, Sir George Rooke was sent with a powerful fleet into the Mediterranean, and an attempt on Gibraltar was resolved upon. On the 21st of July, 1800 troops were landed upon the isthmus under the prince of Hesse Darmstadt; and, on the refusal of the governor to surrender, a cannonade was begun from the fleet on the 23d, and kept up so briskly that in five or six hours the Spaniards were driven from many of their guns, especially at the new mole-head. The admiral, perceiving that by gaining this part of the fortification the reduction of the rest would be facilitated, ordered out some armed boats to take possession of it. On their approach the Spaniards sprung a mine, which demolished part of the works, killed two lieutenants and forty men, wounding about sixty more. Notwithstanding this disaster the assailants kept possession of the work, and took a small bastion half way between the mole and the town. On this the governor capitulated, and the prince of Hesse took possession of the gates on the 24th. The garrison, consisting of 150 men, marched out with the honors of war; and the Spaniards who chose to remain were allowed the same privileges they had enjoyed under Charles II. The works were found very strong, and the place well provided with ammunition and military stores: yet the capture was held of little value by the British court. This conquest was achieved with the loss of about sixty killed and 216 wounded on the part of the English. The prince of Hesse remained governor, and eighteen men of war were left at Lisbon under the command of Sir John Leake, to succour the garrison if there should be occasion. The loss of such an important fortress, however, having alarmed both the courts of Madrid and Paris, orders were sent to the marquis de Villadarias a Spanish grandee, to lay siege to it. The prince of Hesse immediately applied to Sir John Leake for assistance; but, before the latter had time to comply with his request, à French fleet arrived, and debarked six battalions to assist the Spaniards; after which they proceeded to the westward, leaving only six frigates in the bay. The trenches were opened on the 11th of October, about which time Sir John arrived with twenty sail of English and Dutch ships; but, hearing that the French were about to attack him with a superior force, he returned to refit. Having left orders at Lisbon to make preparations for this purpose, he accomplished the work with such expedition that, on the 29th, he returned, and surprised in the bay three frigates, a fire ship, two English prizes, a tartan, and a store ship. After this he landed some reinforcements, supplied the garrison with six months' provisions, and sent on shore 500 sailors to assist in repairing the breaches. The Spaniards supposing that the garrison would now be off their guard, on account of the vicinity of their fleet, formed the rash design of attempting to surprise the place, though the British adiniral was still before it. In this mad attempt 500 brave volunteers associated, taking the sacrament never to return unless they accomplished their purpose. They were conducted by a goat-herd to the south side of the rock near the cave-guard. This they mounted, and lodged themselves the first night in the cave of St. Michael: the next they scaled Charles V.'s wall; surprised and massacred the guard at Middle-hill; where afterwards, by ropes and ladders, several hundreds of the party designed to support them were hauled up; but, being discovered, they were attacked by a party of grenadiers, and all either killed or taken. Notwithstanding these misfortunes the Spaniards continued the siege, and fitted out a strong squadron from Cadiz, to intercept the provisions sent to the garrison; expecting that, on the arrival of their fleet, Sir John would be obliged to retire, and the garrison to surrender. They continued their fire therefore with additional fury, dismounted many of the cannon, and did essential injury to the works, in several different places. The prince of Hesse, however, exerted his utmost to disappoint their expectations. As it was probable that they might attempt to storm the curtain, a curvette was dug in the ditch, which was filled by the tide, and a double row of palisades placed parallel to the works; and the chambers of the mine under the glacis were loaded; but on a sudden the Spaniards altered their design, and threatened an attack on the lines which the garrison had on the declivity of the hill to flank the glacis, and overlook their advanced works. While affairs were in this situation, part of the succours they had long expected arrived in the bay, Dec. 7th 1704; and in two days after, the remainder came in with nearly 2000 men, and a proportionable quantity of am munition and provisions. These had sailed from Cape Spartel, and were in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy, whose fleet they mistook for their own; but escaped by being becalmed. Sir John Leake, having thus powerfully reinforced the garrison, set sail for Lisbon, where he arrived about the end of the year. In the beginning of 1705 the Spaniards were reinforced by a considerable body of infantry, and on the 11th of January made an attack on the King's Lines, but were repulsed. The attack was renewed next day by 600 grenadiers, French and Walloons, supported by 1000 Spaniards, under lieutenant general Fuy. They showed an intention to storm a breach which had been made in the round tower at the extremity of the King's Lines, and another in the entrenchment on the hill. The retrenchment which covered the latter, with part of the entrenchment joining the precipice of the rock, was defended at night by a captain, three subalterns, and ninety men; but the captain usually withdrew, with two subalterns and sixty men, at day break. The round tower was defended by 180 men, commanded by a lieutenant colonel. The marquis, by deserters from the garrison, had obtained intelligence of the strength of these posts, and planned his attack accordingly. The detachment for the upper breach mounted the rock at midnight, and concealed themselves in the clifts until the captain had withdrawn; after which, advancing to the point of the entrenchment, they threw grenades on the subaltern and his party, so that they were obliged to leave the place. At the same time 300 men stormed the round tower, where lieutenant colonel Bar made a vigorous defence, though the enemy annoyed them on the flanks with great stones and grenades. Observing, however, the Spaniards marching down to cut off his retreat from the town, he retired; and, by getting over the parapet of the king's lines, descended into the covered way, where the English guards were posted. Thus the garrison were alarmed; all the regiments were assembled at their proper posts; and captain Fisher endeavoured to stop the progress of the enemy with seventeen men, but they were repulsed, and himself taken prisoner. At last, however, the tower was retaken by lieutenant colonel Moncal at the head of 400 or 500 men, after it had been in the possession of the enemy upwards of an hour. The garrison were now farther reinforced by six companies of Dutch troops and 200 English soldiers, with provisions and stores. The assailants, however, were still determined to go on. The marquis de Villadarias was superseded by marischal Tesse, a Frenchman, with whom admiral Pointis was desired to co-operate in blocking up the place. The marischal joined the army with four fresh battalions, besides eight companies which had been sent before; the ordnance, which had been greatly injured, was exchanged, and the works put into the best repair. On the part of the English, a reinforcemeut was ordered under Sir Thomas Dilkes and Sir John Hardy, to join admiral Leake at Lisbon: which being effected, the whole fleet, consisting of twenty-eight English, four Dutch, and eight Portuguese men of war, having on board two |