appears to have had the power of attracting the strong attachments of his friends, among whom were Pope and Swift. He seems to have been one of the very few for whom the latter had a sincere affection. He is buried in Westminster Abbey. Of all he has written he is best remembered by one or two songs, of which the finest is _Black-eyed Susan_. GEDDES, ALEXANDER (1737-1802).--Theologian and scholar, of Roman Catholic parentage, was _b._ at Ruthven, Banffshire, and _ed._ for the priesthood at the local seminary of Scalan, and at Paris, and became a priest in his native county. His translation of the _Satires_ of Horace made him known as a scholar, but his liberality of view led to his suspension. He then went to London, where he became known to Lord Petre, who enabled him to proceed with a new translation of the Bible for English Roman Catholics, which he carried on as far as Ruth, with some of the Psalms, and which was _pub._ in 3 vols. (1792-6). This was followed by _Critical Remarks on the Hebrew Scriptures_, in which he largely anticipated the German school of criticism. The result of this publication was his suspension from all ecclesiastical functions. G. was also a poet, and wrote _Linton: a Tweedside Pastoral_, _Carmen Seculare pro Gallica Gente_ (1790), in praise of the French Revolution. He _d._ without recanting, but received absolution at the hands of a French priest, though public mass for his soul was forbidden by the ecclesiastical powers. GEOFFREY of MONMOUTH (1100?-1154).--Chronicler, was probably a Benedictine monk, and became Bishop of St. Asaph. He wrote a Latin _History of British Kings_. _Merlin's Prophecies_, long attributed to him, is now held to be not genuine. The history is rather a historical romance than a sober history, and gave scandal to some of the more prosaic chroniclers who followed him. It was subsequently translated into Anglo-Norman by Gaimar and Wace, and into English by Layamon. GERARD, ALEXANDER (1728-1795).--Philosophical writer, _s._ of Rev. Gilbert G., was _ed._ at Aberdeen, where he became Prof., first of Natural Philosophy, and afterwards of Divinity, and one of the ministers of the city. As a prof. he introduced various reforms. In 1756 he gained the prize for an _Essay on Taste_ which, together with an _Essay on Genius_, he subsequently _pub._ These treatises, though now superseded, gained for him considerable reputation.