Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/583

This page needs to be proofread.

GALLAIT poems. When Thomas Corwin became secre- tary of the treasury in 1850, Mr. Gallagher accompanied him to Washington as his con- fidential clerk. In 1853 he removed to Louis- ville, Ky., and became one of the editors of the "Daily Courier." He afterward took up his residence on a farm near the city, and em- ployed himself in writing on agriculture. Du- ring the civil war he was again in the service of the treasury department. GALLAIT, Louis, a Belgian historical painter, born in Tournay in 1810. He spent several years in studying his art in Paris. Among his pictures most celebrated and popular in Bel- gium are one illustrating the last honors paid to Egmont and Horn after their execution, which has been purchased by his native city, and one representing the last moments of Egmont (1853). His " Abdication of Charles V." is in the court of cassation of Brussels, and his " Mon- taigne visiting Tasso," which established his reputation in 1833, is in the possession of the king of Belgium. His " Temptation of St. An- thony" was presented by Leopold to Prince Albert. Many of his pictures have been ex- hibited and admired in Paris and London. In 1870 he was made an associate member of the academy of fine arts of Paris. GALL AND, Antoine, a French antiquary and linguist, born near Montdidier, in Picardy, April 4, 1646, died in Paris, Feb. 17, 1715. He became attached to the French embassy at Constantinople in 1670, visited Jerusalem, and copied there a great number of inscriptions, several of which Montfaucon published in his PalcBographia Grceca. Returning to France in 1675, he made two voyages to the Levant to collect medals, coins, &c. He was afterward appointed antiquary to the king. In 1709 he became professor of Arabic in the royal college of France. His works are very numerous, but the most popular of them all is his translation into French of the " Tales of the Thousand and One Nights " (12 vols., Paris, 1704-'17 ; best ed. by Caussin de Perceval, 9 vols. 18mo), the famous "Arabian Nights' Entertainments," which he introduced to the knowledge of Eu- rope. For some time they were thought to be inventions of his own. GALLAS, an African race, generally classed with the Ethiopic division of the Semitic family, inhabiting portions of Abyssinia and the re- gions S. of it to the equator. Their skin varies between light and dark brown; their hair is somewhat frizzled, but without being woolly ; their faces are round, their eyes small, and their figures tall and broad. Many of them consider themselves Mohammedans, but have no well defined conception of the faith they profess. Some have been converted to Chris- tianity, and the Roman Catholic church main- tains among them a mission headed by a vicar apostolic. Those who have remained pagans make pilgrimages to sacred trees on the banks of the Hawash, on the S. E. boundary of Shoa, and elsewhere, but believe in a future state of GALLAS 571 reward and punishment. The Abyssinians nar- rate that this race descended from an Abyssi- nian princess who was given in marriage to a slave, and had seven sons who became founders of tribes. They first appear in history as in- vaders of Abyssinia, where they succeeded in establishing a permanent settlement. They are classed with the Semitic family on account of their language, though its Semitic character is not quite clearly defined. Whether they possess a graphic system has not been de- cided to a certainty. D'Abbadie sent a letter to Paris which he supposed to be written in Galla characters, but it has not been de- ciphered. Krapf has published an outline of the Galla language (London, 1842), in which he maintains that it does not contain a sound which cannot be expressed in English letters, even better than in Ethiopian. This assertion seems however doubtful, and Karl Tutschek ka found it needful in his " Dictionary of the Galla Language" (Munich, 1844) to use several signs not found in our alphabet. The Gallas have, for instance, an entirely unaspirated t which is nevertheless intermediate between t and d, and also a p and an I so peculiar that the English can hardly pronounce them. See Brenner's description and map in Petermann's Geographische Mittheilungen (Gotha, 1868). GALLAS, Matthias von, count, a German sol- dier, born in 1589, died in Vienna in 1647. He belonged to an ancient family of the dis- trict of Trent, and acquired military experience under Prince Bauffremont in the war between Spain and Savoy (1616). After the outbreak of the thirty years' war, he distinguished him- self in Bohemia and in Tilly's campaign against Christian IV. of Denmark (1626), and became major general. Together with Altringer he captured Mantua in 1629, and they pillaged the city, most of the booty remaining in the possession of Gallas, who was made count and in 1631 field marshal. After having gained the confidence of Wallenstein and cooperated with him against Gustavus Adolphus near Nu- remberg and at Liitzen, he was said to have been the first to disclose to the emperor his chief's ambitious designs. It is certain that he was early aware of Wallenstein's impending dis- grace, and was among those who refused to at- tend when he appealed to his officers at Pilsen. On Wallenstein's removal Gallas succeeded him, and was made duke of Friedland. When, after the assassination of Wallenstein (1634), the future emperor Ferdinand III. became his father's generalissimo, Gallas commanded un- der him, with Piccolomini, in the battle of Nordlingen; and the victory achieved there over Horn and Bernhard of Weimar resulted in the restoration of the S. W. part of Ger- many to the emperor's dominions. In 1637 he fought against Baner and Wrangel in Po- merania ; but being obliged to retreat next year, he was removed from active service till 1643. He was again commander-in-chief for a ghort time in 1645, but without retrieving