nominated first secretary of legation at Mexico, and subsequently chargé d'affaires at Bogota and La Plata. Returning to Europe, he was intrusted with a secret mission to England, and in 1849 to Rome. A year after he proceeded to Athens to act as mediator in the dispute between the British and Greek governments; and, having been very successful in this mission, he had to undertake the still more difficult and often attempted task of settling the frontiers between France and Spain, which, after long negotiations, was accomplished in the treaty of Bayonne of December 2, 1856. In May, 1857, Baron Gros was charged by the Emperor Napoleon III. with a mission to China, in the capacity of special high commissioner, and with orders to act in conjunction with Lord Elgin, the British envoy. He left Toulon on the 27th of May, and arrived at Canton on the 14th of October. Not being able to obtain the demanded satisfaction from the Chinese government by diplomatic means, orders were given for the commencement of hostilities, which resulted in the bombardment and storm of Canton, December 29, 1857, and the capture of Governor Yeh. This not inclining the court of Pekin to come to terms, the forts of Ta-kou were taken by the allied troops; and Baron Gros and his British colleague ascended the Pei-ho to the city of Tientsin, where peace was concluded, June 28-29, 1858. Having accomplished this part of his mission, Gros set sail for Japan, and along with Lord Elgin succeeded in concluding the very advantageous treaty of Yedo, which opened the country to European commerce. He returned to Europe in June, 1859, but the Chinese proving faithless to their engagements, he again went to China in the summer of the following year, and, as representative of the French emperor, took part along with Lord Elgin in the events of the brief but splendid campaign which terminated in the capture of Pekin, and the consequent treaty of peace signed in that city, October 24th, 1860. Since that period his name has been seldom before the public.—F. M.
GROSE, Francis, F.S.A.; this learned and jovial antiquary was born at Greenford in Middlesex in 1730 or 1731. His father was a jeweller, a native of Switzerland, who retired from active business to Richmond, where he became a justice of the peace, and dying left his children well provided for. A place had previously been obtained for Francis in the Herald's college, where he attained to the dignity of Richmond herald. In 1763 he resigned his tabard to Henry Pugolas in exchange for six hundred guineas, and entered the Surrey militia as paymaster and adjutant. His convivial qualities, wit, and good humour led him into expensive society. His carelessness and ignorance of business were unsuitable to the office of regimental paymaster. "He kept but two books," he said, "his right and left hand breeches pocket," took no vouchers, and gave no receipts. A serious deficiency consequently appeared in his accounts, which had to be repaired from his private fortune. This calamity roused his energies, and led him to the diligent use of a special talent he had in drawing. He devoted himself to the study of the then standing "Antiquities of England and Wales," under which title he, with the aid of his friend and publisher, Mr. Samuel Hooper, brought out a book of great cost, which proved successful and profitable. The work was published in numbers during the years 1773-76, continued in 1777, and finally completed in 1787. It includes five hundred and eighty-nine views, taken in all parts of the country, besides forty plans, the head-pieces and other plates illustrative of his prefatory dissertations, a striking proof of the author's industry and talent at a time when easy travelling and good drawing were rare. The founders of his celebrity, quaintly says his friend Noble, were the fanatical destroyers of the ecclesiastical and military structures of our ancestors, and the hand of time prepared the ruins for Grose's pencil. In 1789 the "English antiquary" went into Scotland, and there made the acquaintance of Robert Burns, who has immortalized his friend in the lines beginning "Ken ye aught o' Captain Grose;" and again, in "Hear, Land o' cakes, and brither Scots." It was at this time, too, that the sketch was taken which Kaye published in his collection of Edinburgh portraits. The delineation of the poet is undoubtedly the more graphic of the two—
" A fine fat fodgel wight
Of stature short, but genius bright."
In his "Antiquities of Scotland," Grose, in a note to the text descriptive of "Alloway Church, Ayrshire," says, "diverse stories of horrid rites performed there by witches and warlocks are still current; one of which my worthy friend, Mr. Burns, has here favoured me with in verse." Surely posterity owes some gratitude to Captain Grose for being the inspiring cause of Tam o' Shanter. Before the publication of his Scottish book was finished, the author proceeded to Ireland, intending to illustrate the antiquities of that country. Specimens of his success in this project were indeed published in two volumes, but not until death had put an end to "all his views and prospects," as was said of him in an epitaph. While in Dublin, at the house of his friend, Mr. Hone, he was seized with an apoplectic fit at table, and died immediately, the 12th of May, 1791. He was buried in Drumcondra churchyard, near Dublin. Noble, who knew Captain Grose well, gives a pithy description of him as a combination of Sancho Panza and Falstaff. Like Sancho, he was squat, round, and slovenly, full of sleep and proverbs. Like Falstaff, he was not only witty himself, but the cause of wit in others. "In simplicity, probity, and a compassionate heart, he was wholly of the Panza breed." His learning and good sense may be discovered in his numerous works. In addition to the "Antiquities" already mentioned, he was the author of "A Treatise on Ancient Armour," 1786, 4to; "Military Antiquities," 2 vols., 1786-88, 4to; another edition in 1801; "The Olio," 1792-96, 8vo; "The Grumbler," 1791, 12mo; "Rules for drawing Caricatures," 1788-91, 8vo; "A Provincial Glossary," 1787-90, and with Pegge's supplement, 1838, 8vo; "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1785, 1788, 1796, 1811, with additions by P. Egan, 1823, 8vo; "A Guide to Health, Beauty, Riches, and Honour," 1783, &c. He contributed also to the Antiquarian Repertory, and edited Darell's History of Dover, 1786; reprinted, 1811.—(Noble's Coll. of Arms; Kaye's Edinburgh Portraits; Nichols' Anecdotes, vol. iii.; Notes and Queries; Lowndes' Manual.)—R. H.
GROSIER, Jean Baptiste Gabriel Alexander, was born at Saint Omer in 1743. He assisted Fréron in the editorship of the Année Littéraire, and afterwards continued it for the benefit of Fréron's widow and children. With the assistance of La Roux des Hauterayes, Grosier published (1777-84) a "History of China," in twelve volumes, which had great success. He contributed several articles to the Biographie Universelle, amongst others that on Confucius. In 1817 he became conservator of the Arsenal library, and died in 1823.—W. J. P.
GROSLEY, Pierre Jean, born at Troyes in 1718; died in 1785. His father was an avocat at Troyes, and educated his son for the same profession. Going to Paris for the purposes of study, he fell there into what, relatively to his professional purposes, was bad society, and living in literary circles he neglected his law-books. He found bread could not be made by his verses, and he went back to Troyes on the chance of finding employment among his father's old clients. This did not answer, and his next expedient was traveling over Europe in one capacity or other with families of rank. He published several volumes of travels; among others a book on England, in three volumes, which has been translated by Nugent. Grosley was a whimsical writer, who mixed serious and burlesque together somewhat inartificially. He was a member of the Academy. His Life of Pithou is still looked at occasionally, and a humorous essay, "Les Memoires de l'Academie de Troyes."—J. A., D.
GROSSETESTE or GROSTHEAD, Robert, also designated by the Latin name of Capito, was distinguished as a bishop, philosopher, scholar, &c., in the thirteenth century. He was born about 1175, of obscure parentage, at Stradbrook in Suffolk. He studied at Oxford, where he learned Greek and Hebrew in addition to Latin. He afterwards went to Paris, where he made himself acquainted with French, and soon became reputed as a consummate philosopher and theologian. On his return to England he associated with the Dominicans and Franciscans. In the school of the latter he lectured at Oxford. In 1235 he was appointed bishop of Lincoln, having been already archdeacon of Leicester. The new bishop, who was both ardent and active, commenced his career as a reformer both of the clergy and the laity of his diocese, which he carefully inspected, preaching and exhorting wherever he went. He particularly encouraged the preaching friars, and by this means excited a good deal the jealousy of the secular clergy, who found the people slipping out of their hands and the new orders increasing in credit and power. Grosseteste found time for literature, and translated the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs out of Greek into Latin, as well as the writings of Johannes Damascenus and Dionysius Areopagita, which
