Chapter Guy to Gytrash of G by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Guy to Gytrash

Guy The Guiser or Guisard was the ancient Scotch mummer, who played before Yule; hence our words guise, disguise, guy, etc.

Guy (Thomas). Miser and philanthropist. He amassed an immense fortune in 1720 by speculations in the South Sea Stock, and gave £238,292 to found and endow Guy's Hospital.
   Guy Fawkes, or Guido Fawkes, went under the name of John Johnstone, the servant of Mr. Percy.

Guy, Earl of Warwick An Anglo-Danish hero of wonderful puissance. He was in love with fair Phelis or Felice, who refused to listen to his suit till he had distinguished himself by knightly deeds. First, he rescued the daughter of the Emperor of Germany "from many a valiant knight;" then he went to Greece to fight against the Saracens, and slew the doughty Coldran, Elmaye King of Tyre, and the soldan himself. Then returned he to England and wedded Phelis; but in forty days he returned to the Holy Land, where he redeemed Earl Jonas out of prison, slew the giant Amarant, and many others. He again returned to England, and slew at Winchester, in single combat, Colbronde or Colbrand, the Danish giant, and thus redeemed England from Danish tribute. At Windsor he slew a boar of "passing might and strength." On Dunsmore Heath he slew the "Dun-cow of Dunsmore, a monstrous wyld and cruell beast." In Northumberland he slew a dragon "black as any cole," with lion's paws, wings, and a hide which no sword could pierce. Having achieved all this, he became a hermit in Warwick, and hewed himself a cave a mile from the town. Daily he went to his own castle, where he was not known, and begged bread of his own wife Phelis. On his death-bed he sent Phelis a ring, by which she recognised her lord, and went to close his dying eyes. (890-958). His combat with Colbrand is very elaborately told by Drayton (1563-1631) in his Polyolbion.

"I am not Sampson, nor Sir Guy, nor Colbrand, to mow them down before me." - Shakespeare: Henry VIII., v. 3.

Guy-ropes Guide, or guiding-ropes, to steady heavy goods while a-hoisting. (Spanish and Portuguese guia, from guiar, to guide.)

Guyon (Sir). The impersonation of Temperance or Self-government. He destroyed the witch Acrasia, and her bower, called the "Bower of Bliss." His companion was Prudence. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book ii.)
   The word Guyon is the Spanish guiar (to guide), and the word temperance is the Latin tempero (to guide).

Gwynn (Nell). An actress, and one of the courtesans of Charles II. of England (died 1687). Sir Walter Scott speaks of her twice in Peveril of the Peak; in chap. xi. he speaks of "the smart humour of Mrs. Nelly;" and in chap. xl. Lord Chaffinch says of "Mrs. Nelly, wit she has; let her keep herself warm with it in worse company, for the cant of strollers is not language for a prince's chamber."

Gyges' Ring rendered the wearer invisible. Gyges, the Lydian, is the person to whom Candaules showed his wife naked. According to Plato, Gyges descended into a chasm of the earth, where he found a brazen horse; opening the sides of the animal, he found the carcase of a man, from whose finger he drew off a brazen ring which rendered him invisible, and by means of this ring he entered into the king's chamber and murdered him.

"Why, did you think that you had Gyges ring,
Or the herb that gives invisibility [fern-seed]?" Beaumont and Fletcher: Fair Maid of the Inn, i. 1.

   The wealth of Gyges. Gyges was a Lydian king, who married Nyssia, the young widow of Candaules, and reigned thirty-eight years. He amassed such wealth that his name became proverbial. (Reigned B.C. 716-678.)

Gymnastics Athletic games. The word is from gymnasium, a public place set apart in Greece for athletic sports, the actors in which were naked. (Greek, gumnos, naked.)

Gymnosophists A sect of Indian philosophers who went about with naked feet and almost without clothing. They lived in woods, subsisted on roots, and never married. They believed in the transmigration of souls. Strabo divides them into Brahmins and Samans. (Greek, gumnos, naked; sophistes, sages.)