GARGANTUA, a gigantic personage, in Rabelais, of preternally lusty appetite and guzzling and gourmandising power; lived several centuries, and begat Pantagruel.

GARIBALDI, Italian patriot, began life as a sailor, associated himself enthusiastically with Mazzini for the liberation of his country, but being convicted of conspiracy fled to South America, where, both as a privateer and a soldier, he gave his services to the young republics struggling there for life; returned to Europe, and took part in the defence of Rome against France, but being defeated fled to New York, to return to the Isle of Caprera, biding his time; joined the Piedmontese against Austria, and in 1860 set himself to assist in the overthrow of the kingdom of Naples and the union of Italy under Victor Emmanuel, landing in Calabria and entering Naples, driving the royal forces before him without striking a blow, after which he returned to his retreat at Caprera, ready still to draw sword, and occasionally offering it again, in the cause of republicanism (1807-1882).

GARMENT OF GOD, LIVING, Living Nature, so called by Goethe, nature being viewed by him as the garment, or vesture, with which God invests Himself so as to reveal and impart Himself to man.

GARNET, a well-known precious stone of a vitreous lustre, and usually of a dark-red colour, resembling a ruby, but also found in various other shades, e. g. black, green, and yellow.  The finest specimens are brought from Ceylon, Pegu, and Greenland.  The species of garnet crystal known as Pyrope, when cut in the shape of a tallow drop, is called a carbuncle.

GARNET, HENRY, a noted Jesuit, son of a Nottingham schoolmaster, implicated in the Gunpowder Plot; bred in the Protestant faith, he early turned Catholic and went abroad and joined the Jesuit order; in 1588 he returned to England as Superior of the English Jesuits, and engaged in various intrigues; on the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot he was arrested, found guilty of cognisance of the Plot, and executed (1555-1606).

GARNETT, RICHARD, philologist, born at Otley, Yorkshire, Keeper of the Printed Books in the British Museum, and one of the founders of the Philological Society, and contributor to its Proceedings (1789-1850).

GARNETT, RICHARD, an acute critic, born in Lichfield, son of preceding; long associated with the book department of the British Museum; an admirer of Shelley, and biographer of Carlyle and Emerson; b. 1835.

GARONNE, an important river of SW.  France, which rises in the Val d’Aran in the Spanish Pyrenees; 26 m. from its source it enters France near Pont du Roi, and after it passes Toulouse flows in a north-westerly direction; joined by the Dordogne, 20 m. below Toulouse, it gradually widens into the Gironde estuary, which opens on the Bay of Biscay; it has a length of 346 m., and is freely navigable as far as Toulouse.