GISSING

gissing, george robert (1857-1903), english novelist, was born at wakefield on the 22nd of november 1857. he was educated at the quaker boarding-school of alderley edge and at owens college, manchester. his life, especially its earlier period, was spent in great poverty, mainly in london, though he was for a time also in the united states, supporting himself chiefly by private teaching. he published his first novel, _workers in the dawn_, in 1880. _the unclassed_ (1884) and _isabel clarendon_ (1886) followed. _demos_ (1886), a novel dealing with socialistic ideas, was, however, the first to attract attention. it was followed by a series of novels remarkable for their pictures of lower middle class life. gissing's own experiences had preoccupied him with poverty and its brutalizing effects on character. he made no attempt at popular writing, and for a long time the sincerity of his work was appreciated only by a limited public. among his more characteristic novels were: _thyrza_ (1887), _a life's morning_ (1888), _the nether world_ (1889), _new grub street_ (1891), _born in exile_ (1892), _the odd women_ (1893), _in the year of jubilee_ (1894), _the whirlpool_ (1897). others, e.g. _the town traveller_ (1901), indicate a humorous faculty, but the prevailing note of his novels is that of the struggling life of the shabby-genteel and lower classes and the conflict between education and circumstances. the quasi-autobiographical _private papers of henry ryecroft_ (1903) reflects throughout gissing's studious and retiring tastes. he was a good classical scholar and had a minute acquaintance with the late latin historians, and with italian antiquities; and his posthumous _veranilda_ (1904), a historical romance of italy in the time of theodoric the goth, was the outcome of his favourite studies. gissing's powers as a literary critic are shown in his admirable study on charles dickens (1898). a book of travel, _by the ionian sea_, appeared in 1901. he died at st jean de luz in the pyrenees on the 28th of december 1903. see also the introductory essay by t. seccombe to _the house of cobwebs_ (1906), a posthumous volume of gissing's short stories. gitschin (czech _jicin_), a town of bohemia, austria, 65 m. n.e. of prague by rail. pop. (1900) 9790, mostly czech. the parish church was begun by wallenstein after the model of the pilgrims' church of santiago de compostela in spain, but not completed till 1655. the castle, which stands next to the church, was built by wallenstein and finished in 1630. it was here that the emperor francis i. of austria signed the treaty of 1813 by which he threw in his lot with the allies against napoleon. wallenstein was interred at the neighbouring carthusian monastery, but in 1639 the head and right hand were taken by general baner to sweden, and in 1702 the other remains were removed by count vincent of waldstein to his hereditary burying ground at munchengratz. gitschin was originally the village of zidineves and received its present name when it was raised to the dignity of a town by wenceslaus ii. in 1302. the place belonged to various noble bohemian families, and in the 17th century came into the hands of wallenstein, who made it the capital of the duchy of friedland and did much to improve and extend it. his murder, and the miseries of the thirty years' war, brought it very low; and it passed through several hands before it was bought by prince trauttmannsdorf, to whose family it still belongs. on the 29th of june 1866 the prussians gained here a great victory over the austrians. this victory made possible the junction of the first and second prussian army corps, and had as an ultimate result the austrian defeat at koniggratz.