Chapter Gods to Godfrey's Cordial of G by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

is in Candia. Esculapius was killed with an arrow. The ashes of Venus are shown in Paphos. Hercules was burnt to death. (Ignatius.)
   Triple gods. (See Trinity.)

God's Acre A churchyard or cemetery.

"I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls
The burial ground God's Acre." - Longfellow.

Gods' Secretaries (The). The three Parcæ. One dictates the decrees of the gods; another writes them down; and the third sees that they are carried out. (Martianus Capella. 5th century.)

God-child One for whom a person stands sponsor in baptism. A godson or a goddaughter.

Goddess Mothers (The). What the French call "bonnes dames " or "les dames blanches, " the prototype of the fays; generally represented as nursing infants on their laps. Some of these statues made by the Gauls or Gallo-Romans are called "Black Virgins."

Godfather To stand godfather. To pay the reckoning, godfathers being generally chosen for the sake of the present they are expected to make the child at the christening or in their wills.

Godfathers Jurymen, who are the sponsors of the criminal.

"In christening time thou shalt have two godfathers. Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more to bring thee to the gallows, not to the font." - Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, iv. 1.

Godfrey The Agamemnon of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, chosen by God as chief of the Crusaders. He is represented as calm, circumspect, and prudent; a despiser of "worldly empire, wealth, and fame."

Godfrey's Cordial A patent medicine given to children troubled with colic. Gray says it was used by the lower orders to "prevent the crying of children in pain" when in want of proper nourishment. It consists of sassafras, opium in some form, brandy or rectified spirit, caraway seed, and treacle. There are seven or eight different preparations. Named after Thomas Godfrey of Hunsdon, in Hertfordshire, in the first quarter of the eighteenth century.