but he has to battle with many violent opponents amongst his co-religionists. His works consist chiefly of sermons, and of political and polemical pamphlets. His contributions to periodical literature display a deep acquaintance with historical and oriental learning.—R. D. B.
GEIJER, Carl August, the prince of Swedish historians, was descended from an Austrian family which emigrated to Sweden in the time of Gustavus Adolphus. He was born 12th January, 1783, at an iron-foundry of Ransäter in Wermland; his forefathers having been iron-founders for many generations. He received his early education at home, where he cultivated a decided taste for music. His youth was singularly happy; "a more hospitable home than that of my childhood," he says, "could not be found. I was brought up amidst dancing and music." In 1799 he became a student of Upsala. At the age of twenty he returned home, without a degree; for his examination at the university had not been very advantageous to him. As, however, it was his father's wish that he should endeavour to obtain a situation as tutor in some high family, it was necessary for him to produce some proof of his ability, and hence his first attempt at authorship. He resolved to compete for the prize of the Swedish Academy in 1803, and for this purpose wrote the successful "Eulogy on the memory of Sten Sture, the Elder." In 1806 Geijer obtained his philosophical degree; in 1809 he came to England, where he spent a year. On his return he became docent of history at the university of Upsala, where he remained until, requiring ampler means for historical research, he allowed himself to be appointed keeper of the national archives at Stockkolm. In connection with some of his friends he established the so-called Gothic Society, in the periodical of which, Iduna, he came forward, not only as a prose writer, but a poet. His poems are distinguished by warm natural feeling and great simplicity; they are in fact the inspirations of the northern muse, and have all the characteristics which distinguish the exquisite old ballads of his country. Their excellence was therefore at once acknowledged, and great as he is as a historian, he takes rank amongst the foremost of his country's poets. At the same time he published a volume of sacred poems, several of which are included in the national hymnbook. But his poetical career was short; for being appointed professor of history, he devoted the whole powers of his mind to that subject. In 1825 he published the first part of his "Svea Rikes Häfder," and the same year made a journey for the recovery of his health, which had suffered from study, through Denmark and part of Germany. In 1834 he published his "Minnen," or recollections of this journey, and also of the one he made to England in his youth. In the years 1832 and 1836 he published "Svenska Folkets Historia," in three parts, which brought down the history to the end of Queen Christina's reign, and in 1838 he produced his "Kort teckning öfver Sveriges tillstand unter tiden fran Carl. XII's död till Gustaf III's anträde af regernigen," a sketch of the so-called time of freedom, and its party. By his lectures, the later of which were published, and involved him in a controversy with the historian Fryxel, he exercised great influence over the youth of his country, who were on all occasions his enthusiastic partisans. Declining health compelled him at length in 1846 to give up his office. He died in Stockholm, on the 12th of April, in the following year. His collected works, "Samlade Skrifter," were published in 12 vols., 1849-1850. Geijer sat for some years in the diet as representative of the university of Upsala. He was associated also with Afzelius in the editorship and publication of the Svenska Folkvisor, or Swedish ballads, 1814-1816. He was also a composer, and published, with A. F. Lindblad, Music for Singing and the Pianoforte, 1824; and his own popular melodies, composed to his own songs, have contributed much to their acceptation with the people. He wrote several songs with music for Jenny Lind, and had thus, when an old man, the delight of hearing the first singer in the world produce them to the public. As he enjoyed this exquisite pleasure, says one of his friends, "you could hardly have drawn him away had you informed him that the royal archives were on fire."—(History of Scand. Literature; Nordish Lex.)—M. H.
GEIKIE, Walter, a Scottish artist, was the son of a perfumer, and was born at Edinburgh in 1795. A dangerous disease in the ear which attacked him before he had completed his second year, rendered him deaf and dumb for life. He was intrusted to the care of Mr. Braidwood, the well-known successful teacher of the deaf and dumb, under whom he made rapid progress. From his earliest years he exhibited an extraordinary fondness for drawing, and in 1812 was admitted a pupil of the Edinburgh academy of drawing, under Mr. Graham, the teacher of Allan and Wilkie. He speedily attained to great proficiency in making sketches of homely and ludicrous objects, and formed a rich and varied collection of the curious characters and scenes of his native city. He also made some attempts of the same kind in oil painting, but these were decidedly inferior to his sketches. His "Itinerant Fiddlers," "All-Hallow Fair," and the "Grassmarket," are now in the earl of Hopetoun's collection. Geikie was a sincerely pious man, and, along with two friends who laboured under the same defects with himself, he established a religious meeting of the deaf and dumb, to whom he preached and expounded the scriptures by signs. He died in 1837. His spirited and amusing sketches, ninety-four in number, illustrative of Scottish character and scenery, have since his death been published in one volume, with explanations and a memoir by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder.—J. T.
GEILER VON KAISERSBERG, Johann, an eminent popular preacher of the Romish church, was born at Schaffhausen in 1445, and, after the early death of his father, was brought up by his grandfather in the town of Kaisersberg in Alsace. In 1460 he entered the university of Freiburg, and, after taking his degree in 1463, began to deliver lectures there on the Commentaries of Alexander of Hales, and the Sentences of Peter Lombard. In 1471 he left Freiburg for Basle, where in 1475 he took the degree of doctor in theology. In 1476 he returned to Freiburg to occupy a theological chair, and was soon after elected rector of the university. But successful as he was in the chair, he was still more so in the pulpit; and, finding himself most in his element in the latter, he accepted an invitation to settle in Strasburg as a cathedral preacher. He began his labours there in 1478, and he continued to preach in that city with great zeal and undiminished popularity till his death in 1510. Deploring the corruptions of the clergy, he was anxious for reform, and in 1482 he opened a synod at Strasburg with a sermon on the state of the church, and on the necessity of restoring discipline among her ministers; and the result was the appointment of a commission, of which he was a member, to visit the diocese and correct its more flagrant disorders. His fame as an earnest and impressive preacher spread through all Germany, and he received pressing solicitations to settle in Augsburg, Basle, and Cologne. He was a man of action as well as speech, and he used his immense influence with all classes in Strasburg to establish many excellent institutions. His death was lamented as a public calamity by all Germany, and several of the most eminent scholars of the empire wrote epitaphs in his honour. Many of his sermons were printed in his lifetime and after his death.—P. L.
* GEINITZ, Hans Bruno, a distinguished German geologist, was born at Altenburg, October 16, 1814. He studied at Berlin and Jena, and soon after obtained a mastership at Dresden, where in 1846 he was appointed director of the royal cabinet of minerals, and in 1850 professor of mineralogy and geology in the polytechnic school. Geinitz has principally devoted himself to the exploration of the geological formation, especially the coal fields, of Saxony. Among his numerous works we mention—"Gäa von Sachsen;" "Grundriss der Versteinerungskunde;" "Das Quadersandsteingebirge oder Kreidegebirge in Deutschland;" "Das Quadergebirge in Sachsen;" "Geognostische Darstellung der Heinkohlen formation in Sachsen."—K. E.
GEISMAR, Baron von, a distinguished general in the Russian service, was born May 12, 1783, at Severinghausen, Westphalia, the seat of his family. He entered the Austrian army at a very early age, and taking part in the Italian campaign, was made prisoner by the French general, Massena, in 1800. Exchanged some time after, he embarked for Ceylon with the intention of entering the English service. But in Corfu he met a Russian corps, and was persuaded to take service as ensign. In that capacity he went to Naples, and fought at Austerlitz, and, having been promoted to a lieutenancy, served in Moldavia and Wallachia. In the latter country he greatly distinguished himself by storming the fortified castles of Giurgevo and Slobodno. He was present at Leipsic, and made colonel after the battle of Hanau. In 1820 he became general, and commanded the Russian vanguard in the campaign against Turkey in 1828. He was less fortunate as a commander in the struggle with the Polish insurrectionists in 1831. Unexpectedly attacked in the night
