Chapter Gulnarê to Guy Mannering of G by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Gulnarê to Guy Mannering

Gulnarê, daughter of Faraschê whose husband was king of an under-sea empire. A usurper drove the king her father from his throne, and Gulnarê sought safety in the Island of the Moon. Here she was captured, made a slave, sold to the king of Persia, and became his favourite, but preserved a most obstinate and speechless silence for twelve months. Then the king made her his wife, and she told him her history. In due time a son was born, whom they called Beder (“the full moon”).

Gulnarê says that the under-sea folk are never wetted by the water, that they can see as well as we can, that they speak the language “of Solomon’s seal,” and can transport themselves instantaneously from place to place.—Arabian Nights (“Beder and Giauharê”).

Gulnare, queen of the harem, and the most beautiful of all the slaves of Seyd [Seed]. She was rescued by Conrad the corsair from the flames of the palace; and, when Conrad was imprisoned, she went to his dungeon, confessed her love, and proposed that he should murder the sultan (and flee. As Conrad refused to assassinate Seyd, she herself did it, and then fled with Conrad to the “Pirate’s Isle.” The rest of the tale is continued in Lara, in which Gulnare assumes the name of Kaled, and appears as a page.— Byron: The Corsair (1814).

Gulvigar [“weigher of gold”], the Plutus of Scandinavian mythology. He introduced among men the love of gain.

Gummidge (Mrs.), the widow of Danel Peggotty’s partner. She kept house for Dan’el, who was a bachelor. Old Mrs. Gummidge had a craze that she was neglected and uncared for, a waif in the wide world, of no use to any one. She was always talking of herself as the “lone lorn cre’tur.” When about to sail for Australia, one of the sailors asked her to marry him, when “she ups with a pail of water and flings it at his head.”—Dickens: David Copperfield (1849).

Gundoforus, an Indian king for whom the apostle Thomas built a palace of sethym wood, the roof of which was ebony. He made the gates of the horn of the “horned snake,” that no one with poison might be able to pass through.

Gunpowder. The composition of gunpowder is expressly mentioned by Roger Bacon, in his treatise De Nullitate Magiæ, published 1216.

… earth and air were sadly shaken
By thy humane discovery, friar Bacon.
   —Byron: Don Juan, viii. 33 (1823).

Günther, king of Burgundy and brother of Kriemhild. He resolved to wed Brunhild, the martial queen of Issland, and won her by the aid of Siegfried; but the bride behaved so obstreperously that the bridegroom had again to apply to his friend for assistance. Siegfried contrived to get possession of her ring and girdle, after which she became a submissive wife. Günther, with base ingratitude, was privy to the murder of his friend, and was himself slain in the dungeon of Etzel by his sister Kriemhild.—The Nibelungen Lied.

(In history, Günther is called “Güntacher,” and Etzel “Attila.”)

Guppy (Mr.), clerk in the office of Kenge and Carboy. A weak, commonplace youth, who has the conceit to propose to Esther Summerson, the ward in Chancery.—Dickens: Bleak House (1852).

Gurgustus, according to Drayton, son of Belinus. This is a mistake as Gurgustus, or rather Gurgustius, was son of Rivallo; and the son of Belinus was Gurgiunt Brabtruc. The names given by Geoffrey, in his British History, run thus: Leir (Lear), Cunedag his grandson, Rivallo his son, Gurgustius his son, Sisillius his son, Jago nephew of Gurgustius, Kinmarc son of Sisillius, then Gorbogud. Here the line is broken, and the new dynasty begins with Molmutius of Cornwall, then his son Belinus, who was succeeded by