GOFFSTOWN, N. H., village in Hills borough County, eight miles northwest of Man chester and 15 miles southwest of Concord on the Piscataquog River, and on the Boston and Maine Railroad. The village dates to 1748 and was incorporated in 1761. It is the seat of Saint Suselin's College and is known as a sum mer resort. It has manufactories of sash and blinds, bobbins and spools. Pop. 2,579.
GOG and MAGOG, a king and his nation mentioned in Ezekiel, and the book of Revela tion (vthe prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal from the land of Gog, king of the Magog people, represented the northern hordes, who were to invade western Asia (Ezek. xxxviii, 39). Probably Gog was the Gyges of the Greeks, Gyges being a typical name for kings reigning northwest from the Assyrians. The event predicted was the irruption of the northern nations into Syria. Gog and Magog are also the names Oven to two reputed giants of early British history, whose statues are erected in the Guildhall in London. The leg end reported by Caxton with reference to these personages declares that they were the last two survivors of the sons of the 33 infamous daughters of the Emperor Diocletian, who, having murdered all their husbands, were sent to sea in a ship, and arriving in Britain and cohabiting there with demons, had a number of giants for their offspring. These giants, it is
said, were conquered and brought prisoners to London, where they were kept Chained to the gates of a palace on the site of the Guildhall. When they died their place was taken by effigies of them. Effigies called Gog and Magog cer tainly existed in London at a very early period, and they were sometimes brought out and placed on a conspicuous place to welcome a sovereign entering the city, as was done to Henry V in 1415; Philip and Mary in 1554; and Queen Elizabeth in 1558. The old effigies were burned in the great fire in 1666. The present figures of Gog and Magog, which are 14 feet high, were erected in 1708.