in England. He determined to share Napoleon's exile and sailed with him on H.M.S. "Northumberland" to St Helena. The ship's secretary, John R. Glover, has left an entertaining account of some of Gourgaud's gasconnades at table. His extreme sensitiveness and vanity soon brought him into collision with Las Cases and Montholon at Longwood. The former he styles in his journal a "Jesuit" and a scribbler who went thither in order to become famous. With Montholon, his senior in rank, the friction became so acute that he challenged him to a duel, for which he suffered a sharp rebuke from Napoleon. Tiring of the life at Longwood and the many slights which he suffered from Napoleon, he desired to depart, but before he could sail he spent two months with Colonel Basil Jackson, whose account of him throws much light on his-character, as also on the "policy" adopted by the exiles at Longwood. In England he was gained over by members of the Opposition and thereafter made common cause with O'Meara and other detractors of Sir Hudson Lowe, for whose character he had expressed high esteem to Basil Jackson. He soon published his Campagne de 1815, in the preparation of which he had had some help from Napoleon; but Gourgaud's Journal de Ste-Hélène was not destined to be published till the year 1899. Entering the arena of letters, he wrote, or collaborated in, two well-known critiques. The first was a censure of Count P. de Ségur's work on the campaign of. 1812, with the result that he fought a duel with that officer and wounded him. He also sharply criticized Sir Walter Scott's Life of Napoleon. He returned to active service in the army in 1830; and in 1840 proceeded with others to St Helena to bring back the remains of Napoleon to France. He became a deputy to the Legislative Assembly in 1849; he died in 1852.
Gourgaud's works are La Campagne de 1815 (London and Paris, 1818); Napoléon et la Grande Armée en Russie; examen critique de l'ouvrage de M. le comte P. de Ségur (Paris, 1824); Réfutation de la vie de Napoleon par Sir Walter Scott (Paris, 1827). He collaborated with Montholon in the work entitled Mémoires pour servir d l'histoire de France sous Napoléon (Paris, 1822-1823), and with Belliard and others in the work entitled Bourrienne et ses erreurs (2 vols., Paris, 1830); but his most important work is the Journal inédit de Ste-Hélène (2 vols., Paris, 1899), which is a remarkable naïf and lifelike record of the life at Longwood. See, too, Notes and Reminiscences of a Staff Officer, by Basil Jackson (London, 1904), and the bibliography to the article Lowe, Sir Hudson. (J. Hl. R.)
GOURKO, JOSEPH VLADIMIROVICH, Count (1828–1901), Russian general, was born, of Lithuanian extraction, on the
15th of November 1828. He was educated in the imperial
corps of pages, entered the hussars of the imperial bodyguard
as sub-lieutenant in 1846, became captain in 1857, adjutant
to the emperor in 1860, colonel in 1861, commander of the 4th
Hussar regiment of Mariupol in 1866, and major-general of the
emperor's suite in 1867. He subsequently commanded the
grenadier regiment, and in 1873 the 1st brigade, 2nd division,
of the cavalry of the guard. Although he took part in the
Crimean War, being stationed at Belbek, his claim to distinction
is due to his services in the Turkish war of 1877. He led the van
of the Russian invasion, took Trnovo on the 7th July, crossed
the Balkans by the Hain Bogaz pass, debouching near Hainkioi,
and, notwithstanding considerable resistance, captured Uflani,
Maglish and Kazanlyk; on the 18th of July he attacked Shipka,
which was evacuated by the Turks on the following day. Thus
within sixteen days of crossing the Danube Gourko had secured
three Balkan passes and created a panic at Constantinople.
He then made a series of successful reconnaissances of the
Tunja valley, cut the railway in two places, occupied Stara
Zagora (Turkish, Eski Zagra) and Nova Zagora (Yeni Zagra),
checked the advance of Suleiman's army, and returned again
over the Balkans. In October he was appointed commander of the allied cavalry, and attacked the Plevna line of communication to Orkhanie with a large mixed force, captured Gorni-Dubnik, Telische and Vratza, and, in the middle of November, Orkhanie itself. Plevna was isolated, and after its fall in December Gourko led the way amidst snow and ice over the Balkans to the fertile valley beyond, totally defeated Suleiman, and occupied Sophia, Philippopolis and Adrianople, the armistice at the end of January 1878 stopping further operations (see Russo-Turkish Wars). Gourko was made a count, and decorated with the 2nd class of St George and other orders. In 1879–1880 he was governor of St Petersburg, and from 1883 to 1894 governor-general of Poland. He died on the 29th of January 1901.
GOURMET, a French term for one who takes a refined and
critical, or even merely theoretical pleasure in good cooking
and the delights of the table. The word has not the disparaging
sense attached to the Fr. gourmand, to whom the practical
pleasure of good eating is the chief end. The O. Fr. grommet
or gromet meant a servant, or shop-boy, especially one employed
in a wine-seller's shop, hence an expert taster of wines, from
which the modern usage has developed. The etymology of
gourmet is obscure; it may be ultimately connected with the
English "groom" (q.v.). The origin of gourmand is unknown.
In English, in the form "grummet," the word was early applied
to a cabin or ship's boy. Ships of the Cinque Ports were obliged
to carry one "grummet"; thus in a charter of 1229 (quoted
in the New English Dictionary) it is laid down servitia inde
debita Domino Regi, xxi. naves, et in qualibet nave xxi. homines,
cum uno gartione qui dicitur gromet.
GOUROCK, a police burgh and watering-place of Renfrewshire,
Scotland, on the southern shore of the Firth of Clyde,
3% m. W. by N. of Greenock by the Caledonian railway. Pop.
(1901) 5261. It is partly situated on a fine bay affording good
anchorage, for which it is largely resorted to by the numerous
yacht clubs of the Clyde. The extension of the railway from
Greenock (in 1889) to the commodious pier, with a tunnel 1½ m.
long, the longest in Scotland, affords great facilities for travel
to the ports of the Firth, the sea lochs on the southern Highland
coast and the Crinan Canal. The eminence called Barrhill
(480 ft. high) divides the town into two parts, the eastern known
as Kempoch, the western as Ashton. Near Kempoch point is
a monolith of mica-schist, 6 ft. high, called "Granny Kempoch,"
which the superstitious of other days regarded as possessing
influence over the winds, and which was the scene, in 1662, of
certain rites that led to the celebrants being burned as witches.
Gamble Institute (named after the founder) contains halls,
recreation rooms, a public library and baths. It is said that
Gourock was the first place on the Clyde where herrings were
cured. There is tramway communication with Greenock and
Ashton. About 3 m. S.W. there stands on the shore the familiar
beacon of the Cloch. Gourock became a burgh of barony in 1694.
GOURVILLE, JEAN HERAULD (1625–1703), French adventurer, was born at La Rochefoucauld. At the age of eighteen he entered the house of La Rochefoucauld as a servant, and in 1646 became secretary to François de la Rochefoucauld, author of the Maximes. Resourceful and quick-witted, he rendered services to his master during the Fronde, in his intrigues with the parliament, the court or the princes. In these negotiations he made the acquaintance of Condé, whom he wished to help to escape from the chateau of Vincennes; of Mazarin, for whom he negotiated the reconciliation with the princes; and of Nicolas Fouquet. After the Fronde he engaged in financial affairs, thanks to Fouquet. In 1658 he farmed the taille in Guienne. He bought depreciated rentes and had them raised to their nominal value by the treasury; he extorted gifts from the financiers for his protection, being Fouquet's confidant in many operations of which he shared the profits. In three years he accumulated an enormous fortune, still further increased by his unfailing good fortune at cards, playing even with the king. He was involved in the trial of Fouquet, and in April 1663 was condemned to death for peculation and embezzlement of public funds; but escaping, was executed in effigy. He sent a valet one night to take the effigy down from the gallows in the court of the Palais de Justice, and then fled the country. He remained five years abroad, being excepted in 1665 from the amnesty accorded by Louis XIV. to the condemned financiers. Having returned secretly to France, he entered the service of Condé, who, unable to meet his creditors, had need of a clever manager to put his affairs in order. In this way he was able to reappear at court, to assist at the campaigns of the war with Holland, and to offer himself for all the delicate negotiations
