Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 21.djvu/314

Gifford peer of France. It is said that Gifford was preferred to the see on the understanding that he should retain it during the minority of the Duke of Guise's son, who was then but a child, and it was generally believed that he annually paid a considerable portion of the archiepiscopal revenues to the Guise family. Weldon says it was intended at the time of Gifford's advancement that the abbey of St. Remigius at Rheims should be annexed to the archbishop's mensa in order to help to defray the cost of his maintenance and table. The Duke of Guise wanted the abbey for his infant son, then called the Abbé of St. Denis, but the king refused to give it to him without Gifford's consent. As, however, Gifford was under great obligations to the Guise family, he gave his consent, and thereby deprived himself of 40,000 livres a year (Chronicle, p. 160). His promotion to the archbishopric gave general satisfaction, and he passed the remainder of his life in preaching, enforcing discipline among the clergy, and providing for the wants of the poor. He died on 11 April 1629 (N. S.), and was buried behind the high altar in the church of the Blessed Virgin at Rheims, but his heart, by his own direction, was delivered to the Benedictine nuns of St. Peter's monastery in that city, and deposited in the chapel of their house with great solemnity on 11 May. He was eulogised in funeral sermons by Henri de Maupas, abbot of St. Denis at Rheims, afterwards bishop successively of Le Puy and Evreux, and by Guillaume Marlot, the historian of Rheims. Both discourses were printed, and are excessively scarce. The title of the second, which contains many interesting biographical details, is ‘Discours funèbre sur la mort de feu Monseigneur le Reverendissime Gabriel de Ste Marie, Archevesque, Duc de Reims … seconde édition,’ Rheims, 1630, 12mo, pp. 130.

Portraits of him were formerly preserved in the English Benedictine monastery of St. Edmund in Paris and at the monastery of Rheims (, p. 163).

Dodd says: ‘He was remarkably mild, yet not without a reserve of life and spirit, when errors or neglect of discipline gave provocation; upon which occasion he thought a little passion was not ill employed. As to his political disposition he was more of the French than Spanish faction; and what some may think a blemish in his character, a favourer of the league. There are no proofs of his countenancing any attempts against the person or government of Queen Elizabeth; though a certain miserable wretch thought to lessen his own guilt by casting out words to that purpose’ (Church Hist. ii. 361).

His works are:
 * 1) ‘Oratio Funebris in exequiis venerabilis viri domini Maxæmiliani Manare Præpositi ecclesiæ D. Petri oppidi Insulensis,’ Douay, 1598, 8vo.
 * 2) ‘Orationes Diversæ,’ Douay, 4to.
 * 3) ‘Calvino-Turcismus. Id est Calvinisticæ perfidiæ cum Mahumetana Collatio … Quatuor libris explicata. Authore G. Reginaldo,’ Antwerp, 1597 and 1603, 8vo. A work begun by Dr. William Reynolds, and completed and edited by Gifford. Matthew Sutcliffe replied to it in ‘De Turco-Papismo, hoc est De Turcorum et Papistarum adversus Christi ecclesiam et fidem Conjuratione, eorumque in religione et moribus consensione et similitudine,’ London, 1599 and 1604.
 * 4) ‘The Inventory of Errors, Contradictions, and false Citations of Philip Mornay, Lord of Plessis and Mornay,’ translated from the French of Fronto-Ducæus, S.J., at the instance of the Duke of Guise.
 * 5) . A treatise in favour of the League, written at the request of the Duke of Guise.
 * 6) ‘Sermones Adventuales,’ Rheims, 1625, 8vo. Preached originally in French, and translated by himself into Latin.
 * 7) Several manuscript works which perished in the fire that destroyed the monastery at Dieulewart, 13 Oct. 1717.

He also assisted Dr. Anthony Champney in his ‘Treatise on the Protestant Ordinations,’ 1616.



GIFFORD, WILLIAM (1756–1826), editor of the ‘Quarterly Review,’ born in April 1756, was the son of Edward Gifford, whose great-grandfather had ‘possessed considerable property at Halsbury,’ near Ashburton, Devonshire. Gifford's grandfather was extravagant, and was disinherited or spent what fortune he received. The father was a wild lad who twice ran away from school, first going to sea, and afterwards consorting with [q. v.], the king of the gipsies. He was then articled to a plumber and glazier, became possessed of two small estates (probably by his father's death), and married Elizabeth Cain, daughter of a carpenter at Ashburton. He set up in business at South Molton, got into