Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 21.djvu/82

 Church Tune Book,’ 1871. 25. ‘National Psalmody,’ 1876. In 1856 he prepared and composed by far the greater part of a compilation entitled ‘The Encyclopædia of the Chant,’ for the Rev. J. J. Waite. This was only lately published (1885), with scanty acknowledgment of Gauntlett's important share in the work.

A set of ‘Notes, Queries, and Exercises in the Science and Practice of Music,’ 1859, intended for the use of those who have to choose organists, shows the extraordinary range of Gauntlett's musical culture. Mendelssohn said of him that ‘his literary attainments, his knowledge of the history of music, his acquaintance with acoustical laws, his marvellous memory, his philosophical turn of mind, as well as practical experience, rendered him one of the most remarkable professors of the age’ (quoted in Athenæum, No. 2522). His contributions to musical literature are to be found in the earlier volumes of the ‘Musical World,’ in the ‘Church Musician,’ 1850 and 1851, a periodical started and edited by himself, in the ‘Sun,’ ‘Morning Post,’ the ‘Orchestra,’ ‘Notes and Queries,’ &c. To the last he was a frequent contributor on general as well as on musical subjects. In an obituary notice in the ‘Revue et Gazette Musicale,’ he was stated to have been a contributor to the ‘Athenæum;’ this was denied in that periodical, and with truth, if the word ‘contributor’ is to be understood as a regular writer; it is scarcely a secret, however, that the learned and caustic review of a certain meretricious book on music was written by him for Grüneisen. Gauntlett was always fearless and outspoken in the expression of his artistic convictions; these were pure and his standard lofty. He was free from all trace of mercantile considerations. He was one of the most eager champions of Gregorian music, and his theories as to its performance and accompaniment were in advance of those held by most of his contemporaries. He was a devoted admirer of the works of Bach, and his playing of that master's organ fugues, &c., as well as his extempore playing, is said to have been exceedingly fine.

[Grove's Dict. i. 584, ii. 274; Athenæum, Nos. 2305, 2522, 2523; authorities quoted above; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Sermons by the Rev. Henry Gauntlett, with a Memoir by his daughter, 1835; the Town of Cowper, by Thomas Wright, 1886; information from Mrs. Gauntlett.] 

GAVESTON, PIERS, (d. 1312), favourite of Edward II, was the son of a Gascon knight who had earned the favour of Edward I by his faithful service. He was brought up in the royal household as the foster-brother and playmate of the king's eldest son Edward, and thus early gained an ascendency over him. His character, as given by contemporary writers, is not altogether unfavourable. Baker of Swynebroke describes him as graceful and active in person, intelligent, nice in his manners, and skilled in arms. ‘There is no authority for regarding Gaveston as an intentionally mischievous or exceptionally vicious man;’ but by his strength of will he had gained over Edward a hold which he used exclusively for his own advancement. He was brave and accomplished, but foolishly greedy, ambitious, ostentatious, and imprudent. ‘The indignation with which his promotion was received was not caused … by any dread that he would endanger the constitution, but simply by his extraordinary rise and his offensive personal behaviour’ (, Const. Hist. chap. xvi.) His master's inordinate affection for him entirely turned his head; he scorned the great lords, and brought upon himself the envy and hatred of the very men whom he should have conciliated. His pride, says a contemporary, would have been intolerable even in a king's son. ‘But I firmly believe,’ continues the writer, ‘that had he borne himself discreetly and with deference towards the great lords of the land, he would not have found one of them opposed to him’ (Chron. Edward I and II, ii. 167).

Little is said of Gaveston in the reign of Edward I; but Hemingburgh (ii. 272) has handed down a curious story of his having instigated the prince to ask for him the county of Ponthieu, a demand which so enraged the king that he drove his son from his presence. Edward I determined to separate the friends, and on 26 Feb. 1307, at Lanercost, issued orders for the favourite's banishment, to take effect three weeks after 11 April, and bound both him and the prince never to meet again without command. But the king died on 7 July, and Edward II's first act after his accession was to recall his friend. The disgrace of Ralph Baldock, bishop of London, the chancellor, and of Walter Langton, bishop of Coventry, the treasurer, who was regarded as Gaveston's enemy, immediately followed. A large sum of money, amounting to 50,000l., Langton's property, was seized at the New Temple, and, it is said, was given to the favourite, who also received from Edward a present of 100,000l., taken from the late king's treasure, a portion of which sum had been set aside for a crusade to the Holy Land. All this wealth Gaveston is reported to have transmitted to his native country of Gascony. 