Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/71

 GODWIN 63 able army. He won a battle at Novgorod, but was signally defeated at Dobrynitcbe. (See DEMETRIUS.) At this juncture Godunoff suddenly died, and his death was popularly ascribed to poison administered by himself. His son and successor, Feodor, perished soon after. Russian historians generally consider Godunoff as a usurper; but the house of Ro- manoff regard him as a legitimate sovereign. GODWIN, earl of Wessex, a Saxon noble, born about the end of the 10th century, died in April, 1053. He was a cowherd, but having ingratiated himself with Ulfr, the brother-in- law of King Canute, he received in marriage the daughter of that chieftain, and became the most powerful nobleman in England. In the interest of Harold Harefoot he was believed to have procured the murder of Prince Alfred ; but he was pardoned both by Hardicanute and Edward the Confessor, Alfred's brothers, and exerted himself to secure the crown for the latter. He afterward rebelled against Edward, by refusing to punish arbitrarily the men of Dover for the riot against Earl Eustace, and was obliged to flee the kingdom ; but returning with a body of troops, he compelled the king to restore his possessions and dignities. Within a year after his restoration Godwin died. The Norman historians relate that he stood up at the king's banquet to aver his innocence of the death of Alfred, but fell speechless to the earth, and died soon after. He was the father of Harold, the last Saxon king. GODWIN, George, an English architect and author, born at Brompton, Middlesex, Jan. 28, 1815. He was instrumental in founding the London art union in 1836-7, of which in 1839 he was made chief honorary secretary ; and to the " Art Union Magazine," now the " Art Journal," he became a constant contributor after its establishment in 1839. In 1844, hav- ing previously published " The Churches of London," he became editor of the " Builder." His chief architectural works are St. Mary's church, West Brompton, and the restoration of the church of St. Mary Redcliff, Bristol. He has published " Churches of London " (1838), "Facts and Fancies" (1844), "History in Ruins" (1853), "London Shadows" (1854), "Buildings and Monuments," " Town Swamps and London Bridges " (1859), " Memorials for Workers," and "Another Blow for Life" (1864). He has also written several dramas. GODWIN, Parke, an American journalist, born in Paterson, N. J., Feb. 25, 1816. He graduated at Princeton college in 1834, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Kentucky, but did not practise. From 1837 to 1843 he was an editorial contributor to the New York "Evening Post," edited by his father-in-law, William Cullen Bryant ; and in February, 1848, he began a literary and political weekly jour- nal, "The Pathfinder," which he continued three months, when he resumed his connec- tion with the " Evening Post." In February, 1843, he advocated free trade in a public de- 365 VOL. vin. 5 bate in New York with Horace Greeley and others. In 1844 he published "A Popular View of the Doctrines of Charles Fourier," and a treatise on Fourier's ideas of industrial association, entitled " Democracy, Pacific and Constructive." In 1845 he was appointed a deputy collector in the New York custom house. For some years he was a frequent con- tributor to the " Democratic Review," several of his papers advocating important reforms which were subsequently carried out in the revision of the constitution and code of the state of New York. In 1852 he made an ex- tended tour in Europe. In 1853 he became one of the editors of " Putnam's Monthly Magazine," to both the first and second series of which (1853-'7 and 1867-'70) he was a fre- quent contributor ; and two collections of his articles have been reprinted in volumes, " Po- litical Essays" (12mo, 1856), and "Out of the Past," critical and literary papers (1870). In 1860 he published the first volume of a "His- tory of France," embracing ancient Gaul, and terminating with the era of Charlemagne. Since 1860 Mr. Godwin has made two pro- tracted visits to Europe, during which he pros- ecuted his researches in French history. In addition to the publications above enumerated, he has written "Vala, a Mythological Tale," founded upon incidents in the life of Jenny Lind (1851) ; translated a part of Goethe's au- tobiography and a volume of Zschokke's tales, and compiled a "Handbook of Universal Biog- raphy " (1851 ; new ed., " Cyclopaedia of Biogra- phy," 1865). He is now (1874) preparing " The History and Organization of Labor," a volume on "The Nineteenth Century, with its Leading Men and Movements," and "A Winter Harvest," a book of European travels. Until recently he was managing editor of the " Evening Post." GODWIN. I. William, an English author, born at Wisbeach, Cambridgeshire, March 3, 1756, died in London, April 7, 1836. He was the son of a dissenting clergyman, was educated in the dissenting college at Hoxton, and in 1778 became minister of a congregation at Stowmarket, Suffolk. At the end of five years the incompatibility of this occupation with the new moral and political theories he had begun to entertain induced him to sever his connec- tion with the ministry, and going to London he thenceforth devoted himself to literature. He soon began to promulgate doctrines which, if carried out, would have subverted the whole structure of society. Having already acquired some reputation by his " Sketches of History " (London, 1784) and contributions to the "An- nual Register," of which he was at one time the principal conductor, he published the " In- quiry concerning Political Justice, and its In- fluence on General Virtue and Happiness " (2 vols. 4to, 1793), in which an intellectual re- public, founded upon universal benevolence, is advocated with persuasive eloquence. In 1794 he appeared in the political arena as the cham- pion of Home Tooke, Thelwall, Hardy, and