GULLIVER, the hero of Swift's satirical romance entitled "Gulliver's
Travels," which records his adventures among the pigmies of Lilliput, the
giants of Brobdingnag, the quacks of Laputa, and the HOUYHNHNMS
(q. v.).

GULLY, RIGHT HON. WILLIAM COURT, Speaker of the House of Commons
since 1895; has represented Carlisle since 1886, is son of Dr. Gully of
water-cure celebrity; _b_. 1835.

GUN-COTTON, a powerful explosive formed by the action of nitric or
sulphuric acid on cotton or some similar vegetable fibre.

GUN-METAL, a tough, close-grained alloy of copper and tin.

GUNNINGS, two beautiful Irish girls, MARIA (1733-1760) and
ELIZABETH (1734-1790), the elder of whom became Countess of
Cromarty, and the younger married first the Duke of Hamilton (1752) and
afterwards the first Duke of Argyll (1759).

GUNPOWDER PLOT, an attempt on the part of a conspiracy to blow up
the Parliament of England on Nov. 5, 1605, on the day of the opening,
when it was expected the King, Lords, and Commons would be all assembled;
the conspirators were a small section of Roman Catholics dissatisfied
with King James's government, and were headed by Robert Catesby, the
contriver of the plot; the plot was discovered, and Guy Fawkes was
arrested as he was proceeding to carry it into execution, while the rest,
who fled, were pursued, taken prisoners, and the chief of them put to
death.

GUNTER, EDMUND, mathematician, born in Hertfordshire; was educated
at Oxford for the Church, but his natural bent was towards mathematical
science, and in 1619 he became professor of Astronomy in Gresham College,
London, a position he held till his death; his "Canon Triangulorum"
(1620) was the first table of logarithmic sines and tangents drawn up on
Briggs's system; amongst other of his inventions was the surveying chain,
a quadrant, Gunter's scale, and he was the first to observe the
variations of the compass (1581-1626).

GUNTHER, king of Burgundy and brother of Chriemhild; his ambition
was to wed BRUNHILDA (q. v.), who could only be won by one who
surpassed her in three trials of skill and strength; by the help of
Siegfried, who veiled himself in a cloak of darkness, he succeeded not
only in winning her hand, but in reducing her to wifely subjection after
she was wed.

GUPPY, the name of a pert, conceited lawyer's clerk who figures in
Dickens's "Bleak House."

GURNEY, JOSEPH JOHN, a Quaker philanthropist and writer, born at
Earlh