and knighted by the lord deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, in 1570. 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 meditated the recovery of Flushing. In 1576 he published his book on the North-West Passage to the East Indies. In 1578 he obtained an ample patent, empowering him to possess in North America any lands then unsettled. He sailed to Newfoundland, but soon after returned to England without success; nevertheless, in 1583, he embarked a second time with five ships, the largest of which put back on account of a contagious distemper on board. He landed on Newfoundland on the 3rd of August, and on the fifth took possession of the harbour of St. John's. By virtue of his patent, he granted leases to several people; and, though none of them remained there at that time, they settled afterwards in consequence of these leases. On the 20th of August he put to sea again, on board a small sloop; which on the 29th foundered in a hard gale of wind. Thus perished Sir Humphrey Gilbert; a brave officer, a good mathematician, a skilful navigator, and of a very enterprising genius. He also was remarkable for his eloquence, being much admired for his patriotic speeches in the English and Irish parliaments His work, entitled A Discourse to Prove a Passage by the North-West to Cathaia and the East Indies, is a masterly performance, and is preserved in Hakluyt's Collection of Voyages, vol. iii. p. 11. The style is superior to most, if not to all the writers of that age; and shows the author to have been a man of considerable reading.

GILBERTINES, an order of religious, thus called from St. Gilbert, of Sempringham, in Lincolnshire, who founded it about 1148. The monks observed the rule of St. Augustine, and were accounted canons; and the nuns that of St. Benedict. The founder erected a double monastery, or rather two contiguous to each other, the one for men, the other for women, but separated by a very high wall. He founded thirteen monasteries of this order, viz. four for men alone, and nine for men and women together, which had in them 700 brethren, and 1500 sisters. At the dissolution there were about twenty-five houses of this order in England and Wales.

GILBOA, in ancient geography, mountains of Samaria, stretching from west to east on the confines of the half tribe of Manasseh, and of the tribe of Issachar; and to the south of the valley of Jezreel, beginning westward at the city of Jezreel, at the foot of these mountains, reaching almost quite to the Jordan, six miles from Scythopolis. They are famous for the death of Saul and Jonathan, and the defeat of the Israelites by the Philistines.

GILCHRIST (Octavius), F.S.A., a distinguished modern critic, was the son of an officer of the third regiment of dragoon guards. He was born in 1779, at Twickenham, and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. His principal works are, An Examination of the Assertions of Ben Jonson's enmity to Shakspeare, 8vo. 1808; an edition of the Poems of Bishop

Corbet, with Notes, and a Life of the Author, 8vo. 1808; and a Letter to W. Gifford, Esq., on a late edition of Ford's Plays. He is said also to have collected materials for a work intended to illustrate the Rise and Progress of the English stage, comprehending specimens of the minor dramatic writers anterior to the Revolution, &c. The appearance, however, of a similar publication in periodical numbers, entitled Old Plays, deterred him from publication. He died at Stamford, in Lincolnshire, in June, 1823, aged forty-four.

GILD, v. a. GIL'DER, n. s. GILDING, n. s.

Sax. gildan; Goth. gilda; from GOLD, which see. To overlay with gold; to brighten, or illuminate; to recommend by adventitious ornaments: the person who lays on the gold; a coin from one shilling and sixpence to two shillings.

GILT, n. s. & part.

-Yclothed was this mightie god of love
In silke, embroided full of grené greves;
In whiche there was a fret of red rose leves,
The freshest sins the worlde was first begon:
His gilt here was yerouned with a son.

Chaucer. Prologue to Legende of Good Women.
The room was large and wide,
As it some gilt or solemn temple were :
Many great golden pillars did uprear

The massy roof. Spenser. Silvering will sully and canker more than gilding, which, if it might be corrected with a little mixture of gold, there is profit.

.

Bacon.

Gilders used to have a piece of gold in their mouth, to draw the spirits of the quicksilver.

Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirched, With rainy marching in the painful field.

Id.

Shakspeare.

mockt thee for too much curiosity: in thy rags thou
When thou wast in thy gilt, and thy perfume, they
knowest none, but art despised for the contrary.
Id. Timon of Athens.

I am bound
To Persia, and want gilders for my voyage.
Shakspeare.

For my part, if a lie may do thee grace,
I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have. Id.
Thou did'st drink

The stale of horses and the gilded puddle
Which beasts would cough at.

Id. Antony and Cleopatra.
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet. Shakspeare.
When Britain, looking with a just disdain
Upon this gilded majesty of Spain,

And knowing well that empire must decline,
Whose chief support and sinews are of coin.

And the gilded car of day

His glowing axle doth allay

Waller.

In the steep Atlantic stream. Milton. Yet, oh! the' imperfect piece moves more delight; "Tis gilded o'er with youth, to catch the sight.

Dryden.

The lightsome passion of joy was not that trivial, vanishing, superficial thing, that only gilds the apprehension, and plays upon the surface of the soul.

Purchasing riches with our time and care, We lose our freedom in a gilded snare.

South.

Roscommon.

Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive; And love of ombre after death survive. Pope.

which is brought from France, and other parts of the continent, is by no means equal to the London work; not that it is to be inferred from hence, that gilding is well executed by all who undertake it in the metropolis. Many men, who have practised this art all their lives, are unable properly to gild a common picture-frame.

Of burnished gilding on wood.-To begin with picture-frames or mouldings, which are the simplest. In an earthen pan, that will hold a quart, take three half-pints of strong size, make it warm, and add some of the best whiting powdered fine; mix them with a brush till they become thoroughly incorporated, and of the consistency of thick cream; put a little of this mixture, with an equal quantity of size, half the former strength, into another pan, heat it till nearly boiling, and, with a brush, lay it over the whole work; this is called thin whitening the work, and makes a ground for the other operations. When the wood is not clean, it is usual to wash it all over with a sponge dipped in hot water, before the thin white is applied, which precaution will prevent the chipping up of the preparation. The coat of thin white should be particularly well dried; after which the work is to receive four more coats of that which is made of the consistency of thick cream; it must be warm, but not so hot as for the first white, taking care that one coat is dry before another is applied. Here it is necessary to observe that, throughout this process, one coat must be dry before another is applied, whatever may be the composition used. The sixth coat, which is also of thick white, must be laid on by passing the brush in a smooth, even, and flowing manner, over two feet of the work at a time, in order to gain a surface, and facilitate the smoothing, hereafter to be described. Before the whitening is dry, the flat parts should be rubbed down with a chisel, the hollows with a gouge, and the rounds with the finger, or fingers, as is most convenient; should the hollows be too large for a gouge, the finger will answer every purpose. When dry, any superfluous whitening that may have fallen over the edges of the mouldings, &c., may be pared off with a chisel or a gouge, according as the parts are situated; then give it a seventh coat, similar to the preceding, and it will be ready for smoothing, which should be performed in the following manner :

Take some close-grained pumice-stone, and. with a sash saw cut it into pieces about three or four inches long (if the work be very small, an inch, or inch and a half will do), rasping or filing them to fit the different mouldings. The flats are to be made by rubbing a piece of the pumice on a smooth stone, making the sides at right angles, that it may smooth two sides at the same time. During these operations, the pumice-stone must be frequently dipped in water. Lay the pieces, thus prepared, in a large earthen pan full of water, not less than two quarts, take a hogs'-hair brush and a sponge, both of convenient sizes, dip the brush in the water, and wet about two feet of the work at a time, taking the mouldings alternately; then, with the pumice already fitted, rub up and down

till a smooth surface is obtained, remove the water with the brush, and squeeze it into the pan: what remains may be taken off with the sponge, which will complete the smoothing of that piece. Proceed in the same manner with

similar portions; for, if too much be wetted at a time, the whitening becomes soft and unfit to bear the pumice-stone; the work must then be set aside to dry.

In carved work, the operations of whitening and smoothing differs somewhat from the preceding. After the thin white is dry, the coats that follow must be rather weaker, and not so thick as for frames or mouldings; they are to be laid on by carrying the brush over the work in an even and smooth, but not flowing manner. To smooth, or produce the surface that is required, pieces of lime-wood, or fir, soaked in water instead of pumice, are used, shaped round, flat, or angular, as may be found necessary, occasionally wrapping round them strips of linen cloth. In smoothing, care must be taken not to rub off too much of the whitening, or the gilding will look poor, and it will prevent the burnishing of those parts thereby brought too near the wood. The drying may be hastened in summer by the sun, in winter by placing the work before the fire; not too near, or the whitening will chip.

Now mix a little strong size, with four times as much water, in a half pint earthen pan; these proportions should be adapted so as to make it three parts full; add a quantity twice the size of a large walnut, and half as much prepared yellow stone ochre: mix them well together with a brush, and coat the work once over, when dry, rub it slightly with glass-paper, half-worn out, to improve the surface; then proceed to mix and lay on the gold-size. In another half-pint earthen pan, half full of clear size, mix a quantity of burnished gold-size, twice as big as a large walnut, with which coat the work twice over. When dry, burnish the parts intended to be matted with a burnishing stone. (The burnishing is performed by the friction of a curved polished flint, or agate set in ferules with wooden handles, and termed burnishing stones.) Then give it another coat of the same gold-size. But this must now be reduced by adding to it about two tea-spoons full of water, and as much gold-size as you can take upon the point of a knife. Coat those parts only that are intended to be burnished: and here it must be observed, that in laying goldsize on carved work after it is yellowed, those parts should be missed that are too small to receive the gold from the pencil, such as the small eyes of foliage, &c., to which effect must afterwards be given with high-colored or-moulu; and proceed to lay on the gold with a cushion, knife, and tip, as will be described in oil gilding. But in burnish gilding, camels'-hair pencils must be used, dipped in clear water, to wet the work as fast as the gold can be laid on. The hollows and flats must be gilt first, and be perfectly dry before the other parts can be proceeded with, when the work is all gilt and dry, burnish the parts intended. And should there be any defects which can only arise from the

work not having been carefully wetted, or from grease, those parts must be rubbed off to the whitening, with linen wrapt round the finger. When they are dry, they must be gold-sized, gilt, and burnished as before stated.

Those parts not intended to be burnished are technically called mats, and are to be proceeded with in the following manner:-Reduce a little clear size with hot water, so that when cold it will not set; this being the weakest size used in burnish-gilding, much care should be taken that it be not too strong, or it will show all the joints of the gold. When dry, lay on a coat of this weak size, and when again dry, rub it over with cotton. In double gilding, which is the best style, the matted parts should be again gilt, using water to wet as before; after which, rub them again with cotton, and coat them over again with the same weak size. Then give one coat of clear size, to keep the gold firm, or a coat of or-moulu completes the process. Observe, camels'-hair pencils only are used after the gold is laid on, and care must be taken in sizing the matted parts not to touch those that are burnished, which cannot be improved after the burnishing-stone.

If it be necessary to embellish the frames or work to be gilt in burnished gold, with composition, it may be had in London, soft from the press, and can be put on after the smoothing, with a little hot thick whitening, or weak glue. What is squeezed out round the edges in pressing it close, may be taken off with a brush and cold water it must then have a coat of thin white, to remove any grease, and be finished like the rest of the work. The composition may also be put on oil-gold work that is not to stand in the weather, but does not require the thin white, and must be finished in the manner of oil-gilding; composition is easily moistened when dry, by wrapping it in a wet linen cloth, for twenty

four hours.

Of oil gilding to stand in the weather.-The object to be gilt, whether metal, stone, or wood, must be coated three times over with a mixture of linseed oil, white-lead, and a small quantity of spirits of turpentine; if it be wood, it should be previously rubbed with glass-paper, or fishskin. When the last coat is dry, the work should be gold-sized; take any quantity of gold-size, and with a common hogs'-hair brush, kept in water for the purpose, mix it with boiled linseed oil till it is so thin that, when a little of it be laid on the work to be gilt, the white paint before put on, will appear through, though it must not be made so thin as to lose the tinge of the yellowochre then proceed to lay it on sparingly, with fine hogs'-hair brushes, proportioned to the parts of the work. When the gold-size is good, it will dry in twelve hours; if laid on in the evening it will be fit for gilding the next morning. Sometimes in winter, and when the gold-size is fresh made, it will take two or three days; to prevent this, an expedient may be used, unknown to the generality of gilders, i. e. mixing with it a small quantity of japanners' gold-size, which will hasten the drying, but in this instance, when it begins to have the tack, hereafter to be explained, it dries very quickly; therefore, great

care should be taken to get the gold on as fast as possible.

:

In order to ascertain its fitness for receiving the gold, the work must be touched with the finger if it feel somewhat adhesive or clammy, but not so as to be brought off by the finger, it has the tack, or in other words, is in a fit state for gilding; but if it be so clammy as to come off on being touched, or have any inclination thereto, it is not sufficiently dry: if it have no sucking quality, it is too dry, and must be sized over again before it can be gilt. In laying on the gold, a tip is used which must be previously rubbed with a little tallow-grease to make it hold, but it must be so little as to make no appearance. When the surface to be gilt, whether round, hollow, or flat, is sufficiently large and plain to contain whole leaves, they may be taken from the book, which must be held in the left hand, by the part that is sewed, the leaves of it turned carefully over, and kept always so steady, that the gold may be undisturbed, and lie perfectly flat. Take the tip in the right hand, touch the leaf of gold about half an inch deep on the side opposite the sewing of the book, both hands must then be moved to the place meant to be gilt. Having laid the edge of the leaf already attached to the tip, upon the work, which is always considered as having the tack, it will be caught and held fast by the gold size, and the tip will be left at liberty; the book must be slowly drawn away, followed as it moves by the tip which is now used gently to press the gold close to the work, until the whole leaf is on, which must be repeated until those parts large enough to receive a leaf, are all gilt. This method may be acquired in an hour's practice.

For those parts that are too small for the entire leaf, it is necessary to use a cushion, upon which about half a book of gold may be blown out, one leaf at a time, each one carefully turned until it lies nearly flat, when, by breathing as near as possible on the centre, it will become smooth and even, and must be cut in strips, with a knife used for the purpose, according to the widths of the different members and mouldings, and then laid on with the tip. As the work advances, or when it is gilt all over, it must be pressed close with a bit of unspun cotton, then brushed over with a dry, soft, hogs'-hair brush, one previously used a little in the whitening, will best answer the purpose, in order to clear away any loose particles of the gold leaf. If any defective parts appear, those which cannot be mended by pressing upon them the loose gold just brushed off (which may be done with the brush in hand, or a bit of cotton), must be covered in the following manner :-Cut a leaf of gold into small square pieces, proportioned to the defects, and with the camel's hair pencil slightly moistening the tip of it, by putting it to the lip, place a piece on each faulty part, which must be again pressed with the cotton. The work is then finished unless the faulty parts are too dry to receive the gold; when they must be again gold-sized and gilt, as before directed. In general boys do not acquire the method of using the gold on the cushion in less than three

months, though a person determined to accomplish it may do so in one week.

Picture frames, and other work in oil-gilding that is not to be exposed to the weather, to be well done, must be prepared, as far as smoothing, in the same way as work to be gilt in burnished gold. When smooth, and after being rubbed with glass-paper, it must be coated twice over with size, rather weaker than that used for whitening, that which is stale answers best. The gold size must be laid on as before directed in oil-gilding, and, when the work is gilt, pressed with the cotton, and brushed over. If faults appear, they must be treated thus:-Take a little weak size, as directed in burnish-gilding, coat the work all over when dry, wet each part where a fault appears with clear water, and lay on it a piece of gold, with a camels'-hair pencil, as before described. This is not to be pressed with the cotton, but gently rubbed with it when completely dry, which it will be in half an hour (as will all the coats that are used for gilding, except oil gold size), when give the work another coat of the weak size, then one of clear size which completes the gilding; but the effect is considerably heightened with a coat of or-moulu, such as is used to finish the matted part of the burnished gilding.

To make strong size.-Take a clean saucepan of any size most convenient, fill it nearly with water, when heated as much as the hand can bear, keep putting in cuttings of parchment which best answer the purpose, or glovers' white leather shreds, pressing them down well with the hand, till they are within an inch and a half of the surface of the water; boil them slowly for one hour and a half, and the strong size will be made; pass it through a hair sieve into a pan, and set it aside for use, the same parchment or shreds will again yield the same quantity of size, stale size stinks and is unfit for use. Clear size differs only from the preceding in these particulars, it must be made in smaller quantities; the parchment or shreds must be washed in several waters milk warm, till quite clear. It should boil only fifteen minutes; be passed through a finer sieve, and when reduced care must be taken that the water is perfectly clean.

To make gold size for burnished gilding.-Take one pound of pipe-clay, put it into an earthen pan full of water, when soaked; pour off the water and grind it on a stone with a muller, such as is used by house-painters; now and then sprinkling it with water as it becomes dry. Care must be taken that no dirt or grease be on the stone or muller, and, as it is ground, put it into another pan; then take half an ounce of the best black lead, the eighth of an ounce of mutton suet, pound them together with the muller, and proceed to grind them particularly well, using water as before directed for the pipe-clay: when ground, put them into a smaller pan; grind half an ounce of the best red chalk, and mix the black lead, suet, and chalk, well together on the stone, with a pallet knife, and add to them the clay, until these ingredients are thoroughly mixed; when put them into a covered earthen pan to prevent dust or dirt, to be used as wanted.

Ten or twenty pounds may be made at a time. The gold size must be moistened once a month or oftener with clean water to prevent it from getting dry, in which case it would be necessary to grind it again. Care should be taken in selecting these ingredients. The best black lead dust, from the saw of the pencil-makers, is most fit for the purpose. In choosing the clay take that which has the least grit: it may be discovered by putting a little into the mouth, the darkest is generally the best, of which the greatest choice is to be had at the pipe-makers. The softest red chalk, such as is used for drawing, must be chosen, though the gold size may be very well made without any, as its principal use is to heighten the color of the gold when burnished.

Prepared pipe-clay and yellow stone ochre.The pipe-clay must be chosen and ground, as directed in making gold size; then laid by for use in a covered earthen pan, and occasionally moistened as the gold size. The stone-ochre must be of the best quality, and prepared in the same manner.

To make or-moulu.-In half a pint of clear water, gently boil two ounces of the best gamboge powdered fine, for five minutes, strain it through a linen cloth, and put it into a corked bottle. Take one ounce of saffron, half an ounce of turmeric, and one quarter of an ounce of dragon's blood, boil them in one pint of clear water for fifteen minutes, now and then stirring them from the bottom; strain them also through a linen cloth, and put them into a corked bottle. Put about five or six knobs of starch into a clean half pint earthen pan, make them into a paste, with a teaspoon-full of clean water, using the finger; then add water till the pan is three parts full, boil it for one minute, and it will be clear like clear size: now blow off a scum that will arise from the boiling, and put it immediately into another pan; add four drops of the gamboge liquor, two drops of the repass, stir them round, and the or-moulu is made and fit for use.

The eyes of foliage, &c., in carved work, must be touched with a little of the gamboge liquor, called high-colored or-moulu, unmixed with any thing else.

The or-moulu in general use, though it is by no means the best, is made by dissolving the gamboge in spirits of wine, instead of water, which will give it the appearance of clear varnish: but when dropped into clear size to be substituted in this case for starch, it will be yellow; the quantities of the ingredients are alike in both cases.

Plaster-figures, vases, busts, &c., are gilt both in burnished gold and oil-gilding, by coating them first with very hot weak size, and afterwards four times over with hot clear size: if any holes appear, they must be evenly filled up with putty, made of strong size and whiting; the rest of the process is the same as after smoothing in both cases.

To make oil gold-size.-Put as much linseed oil into a broad earthen vessel as will cover the bottom an inch deep, and add to it as much water as will occupy four or five inches; let the vessel containing this, be exposed to the weather for three or four weeks, occasionally stirring it