Chapter Grace Days to Grandison Cromwell Lafayette of G by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Grace Days to Grandison Cromwell Lafayette

Grace Days or Days of Grace. The three days over and above the time stated in a commercial bill. Thus, if a bill is drawn on the 20th June, and is payable in one month, it ought to be due on the 20th of July, but three days of grace are to be added, bringing the date to the 23rd of July.

Gracechurch (London) is Græs-church, or Grass-church, the church built on the site of the old grass- market. Grass at one time included all sorts of herbs.

Graceless Florin The first issue of the English florins, so called because the letters D.G. ("by God's grace") were omitted for want of room. It happened that Richard Lalor Sheil, the master of the Mint, was a Catholic, and a scandal was raised that the omission was made on religious grounds. The florins were called in and re-cast. (See Godless Florin.)
    Mr. Sheil was appointed by the Whig ministry Master of the Mint in 1846; he issued the florin in 1849; was removed in 1850, and died at Florence in 1851, aged nearly 57.

Graciosa A princess beloved by Percinet, who thwarts the malicious schemes of Grognon, her stepmother. (A fairy tale.)

Gracioso The interlocutor in the Spanish drame romantique. He thrusts himself forward on all occasions, ever and anon directing his gibes to the audience.

Gradasso A bully; so called from Gradasso, King of Sericana, called by Ariosto "the bravest of the Pagan knights." He went against Charlemagne with 100,000 vassals in his train, all "discrowned kings," who never addressed him but on their knees. (Orlando Furioso and Orlando Innamorato.)

Gradely A north of England term meaning thoroughly; regularly; as Behave yourself gradely. A gradely fine day.

"Sammy'll fettle him graidely." - Mrs. H. Burnett: That Lass o'Lowrie's, chap. ii.

Gradgrind (Thomas). A man who measures everything with rule and compass, allows nothing for the weakness of human nature, and deals with men and women as a mathematician with his figures. He shows that summum jus is suprema injuria. (Dickens: Hard Times.)

"The gradgrinds undervalue and disparage it."
- Church Review.

Græmes (The). A class of free-booters, who inhabited the debatable land, and were transported to Ireland at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Graham A charlatan who gave indecent and blasphemous addresses in the "Great Apollo Room," Adelphi. He sometimes made mesmerism a medium of pandering to the prurient taste of his audience.

Grahame's Dyke The Roman wall between the friths of the Clyde and Forth, so called from the first person who leaped over it after the Romans left Britain.

"This wall defended the Britons for a time, but the Scots and Picts assembled themselves in great numbers, and climbed over it... A man named Grahame is said to have been the first soldier who got over, and the common people still call the remains of the wall `Grahame's Dike.' " - Sir Walter Scott: Tales of a Grandfather.

Grail (The Holy). In French, San Graal. This must not be confounded with the san-greal or sang-real, for the two are totally distinct. The "Grail" is either the paten or dish which held the paschal lamb eaten by Christ and His apostles at the last supper, or the cup which He said contained the blood of the New Testament. Joseph of Arimathæa, according to legend, preserved this cup, and received into it some of the blood of Jesus at the crucifixion. He brought it to England, but it disappeared. The quest of the Holy Grail is the fertile source of the adventures of the Knights of the Round Table. In some of the tales it is evidently the cup, in others it is the paten or dish (French, grasal, the sacramental cup). Sir Galahad discovered it and died; but each of the 150 knights of King Arthur caught sight of it; but, unless pure of heart and holy in conduct, the grail, though seen, suddenly disappeared. (See Greal and Galahad.)