Chapter Green Howards to Gretna Green Marriages of G by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Gregory, father and son, hangmen in the seventeenth century. In the time of the Gregorys, hangmen were termed “esquires.” In France, executioners were termed “monsieur,” even to the breaking out of the Revolution.

Gregory’s Day (St.), March 12.

Sow runcivals timely, and all that is gray;
But sow not the white [peas, etc.] till St. Gregory’s Day.
   —Tusser: Five Hundred Points of Good
   Husbandry, xxxv. 3 (1557).

Gregson (Widow), Darsie Latimer’s landlady at Shepherd’s Bush.—Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Gregson (Gilbert), the messenger of father Buonaventura.—Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Gremio, an old man who wishes to marry Bianca, but the lady prefers Lucentio, a young man.—Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew (1594).

Grendel, the monster from which Beowulf delivered Hrothgar king of Denmark. It was half monster, half man, whose haunt was the marshes among “a monster race.” Night after night it crept stealthily into the palace called Heorot, and slew sometimes as many as thirty of the inmates. At length Beowulf, at the head of a mixed band of warriors, went against it and slew it.—Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic (sixth century).

Grenville (Sir Richard), the commander of the Revenge, in the reign of queen Elizabeth. Out of his crew, ninety were sick on shore, and only a hundred able-bodied men remained on board. The Revenge was one of the six ships under the command of lord Thomas Howard. While cruising near the Azores, a Spanish fleet of fifty-three ships made towards the English, and lord Howard sheered off, saying, “My ships are out of gear, and how can six ships-of-the-line fight with fifty-three?” Sir Richard Grenville, however, resolved to stay and encounter the foe, and “ship after ship the whole night long drew back with her dead; some were sunk, more were shattered;” and the brave hundred still fought on. Sir Richard was wounded and his ship riddled, but his cry was still “Fight on!” When resistance was no longer possible, he cried, “Sink the ship, master gunner! sink her! Split her in twain, nor let her fall into the hands of the foe!” But the Spaniards boarded her, and praised sir Richard for his heroic daring. “I have done my duty for my queen and faith,” he said, and died. The Spaniards sent the prize home, but a tempest came on, and the Revenge, shot-shattered, “went down, to be lost evermore in the main.” — Tennyson: The Revenge, a ballad of the fleet (1878).

(Froude has an essay on the subject. Canon Kingsley, in Westward Ho! has drawn sir Richard Grenville, and alludes to the fight. Lord Bacon says the fight “was memorable even beyond credit [credibility], and to the height of heroic fable.” Arber published three small volumes on sir Richard’s noble exploit. Gervase Markham has a long poem on the subject. Sir Walter Raleigh says, “If lord Howard had stood to his guns, the Spanish fleet would have been annihilated.” Browning’s Hervé Riel (q.v.) forms a splendid contrast to Tennyson’s poem The Revenge.)

Gresham and the Pearl. When queen Elizabeth visited the Exchange, sir Thomas Gresham pledged her health in a cup of wine containing a precious stone crushed to atoms, and worth £15,000.

Here £15,000 at one clap goes
Instead of sugar; Gresham drinks the pearl
Unto his queen and mistress. Pledge it, lords.
   —Heywood: If You Know not Me. You Know Nobody.

It is devoutly to be hoped that sir Thomas was above such absurd vanity, very well for queen Cleopatra, but more than ridiculous in such an imitation.