The Nuttall Encyclopaedia
by
Edited by Rev. James Wood
Part 26 out of 53
Vilvorde, where he devoted himself to scientific research; mixed up a
good deal of mysticism and alchemy with his scientific discoveries, and
made a special study of gases; he was the first to prove the
indestructibility of matter in chemical changes by utilising the balance
in analysis; he invented the word gas, first used the melting-point of
ice and the boiling-point of water as limits of a thermometric scale, and
his physiological speculations led him to regard the stomach as the seat
of the soul! (1577-1644).
HELOISE, niece of Canon Fulbert, born at Paris; celebrated for her
amour with ABELARD (q. v.); became prioress of the convent of
Argenteuil and abbess of the Paraclete, where she founded a new convent
and lived a pious life (1101-1164).
HELOISE, NOUVELLE, a romance by Rousseau.
HELOTS, slaves who formed the lowest grade of the population of
Sparta, were descendants of the original inhabitants of Laconia, or
prisoners of war; they were slaves belonging to the State, from the State
alone could they receive manumission; they were employed as tillers of
the ground, waited at meals, filled various menial offices for private
individuals, and were treated with the utmost harshness; were whipped
annually to remind them of their servile position; slaughtered when their
numbers increased too much, and were forced to exhibit themselves under
intoxication as a warning to the Spartan youth.
HELPS, SIR ARTHUR, essayist and historian, born in Surrey; for a
time held official posts in connection with the government of the day,
and finally that of Clerk to the Privy Council, in which capacity he was
brought into connection with the Queen, which led to his being appointed
editor of the "Principal Speeches and Addresses of the late Prince
Consort" and Her Majesty's "Leaves from a Journal of our Life in the
Highlands"; he is the author of "Friends in Council," published one
series in 1847 and a second in 1859, which dealt with a variety of
subjects, and was, along with "Companions of my Solitude," very popular;
he did also plays and romances as well as historical sketches
(1817-1875).
HELSINGFORS (77), a strongly fortified seaport and capital of
Finland, is in a commanding position placed on a rocky peninsula in the
Gulf of Finland, 191 m. W. of St. Petersburg; the numerous islands and
islets at the entrance of the harbour are strongly fortified; the town is
handsomely laid out, and has a flourishing university (student roll,
1703), and does a good Baltic trade.
HELST, BARTHOLOMAEUS VAN DER, one of the greatest of the Dutch
portrait-painters, born at Haarlem, but spent his life in Amsterdam; he
enjoyed a great reputation in his day, and many of his pictures are to be
found in European galleries; his "Muster of the Burgher Guard" was
considered by Sir Joshua Reynolds to be "the first picture of portraits
in the world" (1613-1670).
HELVELLYN, one of the Cumberland mountains, 3118 ft. high, rises at
the side of Ulleswater, midway between Keswick and Ambleside.
HELVETII, a Celtic people mentioned by Caesar as occupying territory
in Central Europe now embraced in Switzerland; they suffered tremendous
slaughter at the hands of Caesar when endeavouring to make their way to a
wider territory in Southern Gaul.
HELVETIUS, a French philosophe, born in Paris, of Swiss origin;
author of a book entitled "De l'Esprit," which was condemned by the
Parlement of Paris for views advocated in it that were considered
derogatory to the dignity of man, and which exposed him to much bitter
hostility, especially at the hands of the priests; man he reduced to a
mere animal, made self-love the only motive of his actions, and the
satisfaction of our sensuous desires the principle of morals,
notwithstanding which he was a man of estimable character and of kindly
disposition (1715-1771).
HEMANS, FELICIA DOROTHEA, _nee_ Browne, poetess, born in Liverpool;
her marriage was an unhappy one, and after the birth of five children
ended in permanent separation; she was the authoress of a number of
works, a complete edition of which occupies 7 vols., the best of her
productions being lyrics; and she enjoyed the friendship of Wordsworth,
Scott, and other literary celebrities of the time (1791-1835).
HENAULT, French historian, born in Paris, president of the Parlement
of Paris; was author of "Abrege Chronologique de l'Histoire de France"
(1685-1770).
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD (10), a busy market-town in Herts, 23 m. NW. of
London; noted for its straw-plaiting, and has paper-mills, foundries, &c.
HEMS or HOMS (35), a noted Syrian city known to the Romans as
Emesa, on the Orontes, 63 m. NE. of Tripoli; here stood in ancient times
a famous temple of the Sun, one of whose priests, HELIOGABALUS
(q. v.), became Roman emperor (218); the Crusaders captured it from the
Saracens in 1098; it does a good trade in oil, cotton, silk, &c.
HEMSTERHUIS, Dutch philologist, born at Groeningen; was professor of
Greek at Leyden; one of the greatest Grecians of his day; had for pupils
Ruhnken and Valckenaer, and edited a number of classical works
(1685-1766).
HENDERSON, ALEXANDER, a celebrated Scotch divine; became professor
of Rhetoric and Philosophy in St. Andrews, and subsequently held the
living of Leuchars, in Fife; he actively espoused the cause of the
Covenanters, and became a prominent leader in negotiations with the king;
in 1643 he drafted the "Solemn League and Covenant" which passed into
force, and he was one of Scotland's representatives to the Assembly of
Divines at Westminster (1583-1646).
HENDERSON, THOMAS, astronomer, born at Dundee, astronomer first at
the Cape and then Astronomer-royal for Scotland, calculated the distance
of the nearest fixed star [Greek: alpha] Centauri and found it nearly 19
billions of miles from the sun.
HENGIST AND HORSA, two Saxon brothers who came over to assist
Vortigern against the Picts, and were rewarded by a gift of Thanet,
though they were afterwards defeated by Vortigern and the latter slain.
HENGSTENBERG, a German theologian, born in Westphalia; was editor of
the _Evangelische Kirchenzeitung_, and the valiant unwearied assailant of
Rationalism in its treatment of the Scriptures and the old orthodox
faith; his principal works bear on Old Testament literature, such as its
Christology and the Psalms, as well as on the New, such as St. John's
Gospel and the Apocalypse (1802-1869).
HENLEY, WILLIAM ERNEST, poet and critic, author of a "Book of
Verses" and "Song of the Sword," in which he reveals superior powers as a
poet, and of a volume entitled "Views and Reviews," in which he evinces
discriminative criticism of the highest order; he has edited, along with
T. F. Henderson, in a workmanlike style, the "Centenary Edition of the
Poetry of Burns," accompanied it with a "Life of the Poet," and a
characterisation somewhat damping to the prevailing enthusiasm in
connection with the poet; _b_. 1849.
HENLEY-ON-THAMES (5), a borough of Oxfordshire, on the Thames, near
the Chiltern Hills, 36 m. W. of London; the river is spanned here by a
fine five-arch bridge, and the annual amateur regatta is a noted social
event; malting and brewing are the chief industries.
HENOTHEISM, a polytheism which assigns to one god of the pantheon
superiority over the rest.
HENRIETTA MARIA, wife of Charles I., born at the Louvre; daughter of
Henry IV. of France and of Marie de Medicis; a beautiful and able woman,
much beloved, and deservedly so, by her husband, but from her bigotry as
a Roman Catholic disliked and distrusted by the nation, not without good
reason; by her imprudent conduct she embroiled matters more seriously
than they were; menaced with impeachment by the Commons, had to flee the
country; returned, indeed, with a supply of money and ammunition
"purchased by crown jewels," but in 1644 was obliged to seek refuge again
in France; revisited the country for a short time after the Restoration,
and died near Paris at her retreat there (1609-1669).
HENRIETTA MARIA, daughter of Charles I., and wife of the Duke of
Orleans, brother of Louis XIV., born at Exeter; she had an itch for
political intrigue like her mother, and was successful in persuading her
brother, Charles II., into league with France by signing the treaty of
Dover; on her return to France she died suddenly, by poison it is
believed (1644-1670).
HENRIOT, a French revolutionary, born at Nanterre; was generalissimo
of the National Guard of Paris during the Reign of Terror; marched with
his sansculotte following into the Convention one day and escorted 29 of
the Girondists to the guillotine; became the satellite of Robespierre,
whom he defended at the last, but could not deliver; arrested himself in
a state of intoxication, was dragged out of a drain, and despatched by
the guillotine (1761-1794).
HENRY I., king of England from 1100 to 1135, youngest son of William
the Conqueror, born at Selby, in Yorkshire; usurped the crown from his
elder but irresolute brother Robert, an act which was confirmed by the
Church and the mass of the people, Robert, after a weak resistance, being
pensioned off; the epithets Beauclerc and the Lion of Justice, which were
bestowed on him, so far accurately describe him as he appeared to his
people; his attainments were scholarly for his times, and his reign was
distinguished by the strong and organised administration of justice,
although morally his life was a depraved one; after seizing Normandy from
his brother Robert, whom he imprisoned for life, he governed his kingdom
with a firm hand; the turbulent Norman nobles were subdued, while the
administration of the law was greatly improved by the institution of the
_Curia Regis_ (the King's Court) and of itinerant judges; trade took a
start, and the religious life of the nation was deepened through the
advent of the Cistercian monks and the influence of Anselm; he was
married to Eadgyth (changed to Matilda), daughter of Malcolm of Scotland
(1068-1135).
HENRY II., king of England from 1154 to 1189, first of the
Plantagenet line; was the son of Matilda, daughter of Henry I., and her
second husband Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, born at Le Mans;
when he came to the throne as Stephen's successor he was already in
possession, mainly through his marriage with Eleanor, the divorced wife
of Louis VII., of more than half of France; he set himself with all the
vigour of his energetic nature to reform the abuses which had become
rampant under Stephen, and Thomas a Becket was his zealous Chancellor;
the Great Council was frequently summoned to deliberate on national
affairs; the _Curia Regis_ was strengthened, the itinerant judgeships
revived, while the oppression and immorality of the nobles was sternly
suppressed by the demolition of the "adulterine castles"; a blow was
aimed at the privileges and licentiousness of the clergy by the
Constitutions of Clarendon, but their enactment brought about a rupture
between the king and Becket, now Archbishop of Canterbury, which
subsequently ended in the murder of Becket; in 1171 Ireland was invaded
and annexed, and three years later William the Lion of Scotland was
forced to declare his kingdom a fief to the English throne; some time
previously the Welsh princes had done him homage; the last years of his
reign were embittered by quarrels and strife with his ungrateful sons; he
was a man of many kingly qualities, perhaps the best, taken all in all,
that England ever had, and his reign marks an epoch in the development of
constitutional law and liberty (1133-1189).
HENRY III., king of England from 1216 to 1272, eldest son of King
John; succeeded to the throne at the age of nine; during his minority the
kingdom was wisely and faithfully served by the Earl of Pembroke and
Hubert de Burgh; when he came to years he proved himself a weak ruler,
and, according to Stubbs, his administration was "one long series of
impolitic and unprincipled acts"; with the elevation of Peter des Roches,
a native of Anjou, to the post of chief adviser, French interlopers soon
became predominant at the Court, and the recipients of large estates and
pensions, an injustice further stimulated by the king's marriage with
Eleanor of Provence; justice was prostituted, England humiliated under a
feeble foreign policy, and the country finally roused by infamous
exactions; Simon de Montfort, the king's own brother-in-law, became the
leader of the people and the champion of constitutional rights; by the
Provisions of Oxford, forced upon the king by Parliament assembled at
Oxford (1258), a wider and more frequent Parliamentary representation was
given to the people, and the king's power limited by a permanent council
of 15; as an issue of the Barons' War, which resulted in the defeat and
capture of the king at Lewes (1264), these provisions were still further
strengthened by the Mise of Lewes, and from this time may be dated the
birth of representative government in England as it now exists; in 1265
was summoned the first Parliament as at present constituted, of peers
temporal and spiritual, and representatives from counties, cities, and
boroughs; internal dissensions ceased with the victory of Prince Edward
over the barons at Eastham (1265), the popular leader De Montfort
perished on the field (1206-1272).
HENRY IV., king of England from 1399 to 1418, first of the
Lancastrian kings, son of John of Gaunt, and grandchild of Edward III.,
born at Bolingbroke, in Lincolnshire; Richard II.'s misrule and despotism
had damped the loyalty of his people, and when Henry came to England to
maintain his ducal rights he had little difficulty in deposing Richard,
and, with the consent of Parliament, in assuming the crown; this act of
usurpation--for Richard's true heir was Roger Mortimer, a descendant of
an older branch of the family--had two important results; it made Henry
more obsequious to the Parliamentary power which had placed him on the
throne, and it was the occasion of the bloody Wars of the Roses that were
to devastate the kingdom during the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV.;
Henry's own reign was a troubled one; wars were successfully undertaken
against the Welsh under Owen Glendower and against the Scotch; while
rebellion was raised by the Percies in unsuccessful attempts to win the
crown for Mortimer; the only law of importance passed was the statute for
burning heretics, the first passed in England for the suppression of
religious opinion (1366-1413).
HENRY V., king of England from 1413 to 1422, son of preceding, born
at Monmouth; during the wars of his father's reign he gave evidence of
his abilities as a soldier, distinguishing himself specially by his
conquest of Wales; on his accession to the throne he renewed the claims
put forward by Edward III. to the French crown, and with the support of
his people embarked on his great struggle to win the kingdom of France;
in 1415 he gained the glorious victory of Agincourt, strengthened his
position by confirmed military successes, and by marrying Catherine,
daughter of the French king, and by the treaty of Troyes got himself
appointed regent of France and successor to the throne; he was idolised
by his people as the perfect pattern of a warrior king, but he had
neither the gifts of statesmanship nor the foresight of Edward I., to
whom he is compared, and the English dominion which he established in
France was too unsubstantial to endure (1388-1422).
HENRY VI., king of England from 1422 to 1461, son of preceding, born
at Windsor; was a child of nine months when his father died, and in the
same year was acknowledged king over the N. and E. of France; the Dukes
of Bedford and Gloucester became regents respectively over the English
and French kingdoms; war was resumed with France, and for thirty years
the weary struggle continued, by the end of which time England, despite
some early successes, had been stripped of her French possessions, mainly
owing to the enthusiasm awakened by the heroic and ill-fated JEANNE
D'ARC (q. v.); the growing discontent of the people is indicated by
Jack Cade's rebellion (1540), and five years later began the famous Wars
of the Roses; six battles were fought between the rival houses, and four
times victory rested with the Yorkists; after the final victory of the
Yorkists at Towton (1461), Henry fled to Scotland and Edward was
proclaimed king; Henry was a man of weak intellect, gentle, and of
studious nature, and was ill mated in his ambitious and warlike queen,
Margaret of Anjou; a futile struggle was made to win his kingdom back,
but the hopes of the Lancastrians perished at Tewkesbury; the king was
captured and confined in the Tower, where, there is little doubt, he was
murdered (1421-1471).
HENRY VII., king of England from 1485 to 1509, son of Edmund Tudor,
Earl of Richmond, first of the Tudor monarchs, born at Pembroke Castle;
after defeating and slaying Richard III. on Bosworth Field he assumed the
crown, and by his marriage with Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward
IV., united the claims of the rival roses; his firm and prudent rule
established quiet and order in the country; the pretensions of the
pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck were promptly crushed; a
peaceful relationship was established with France, and the Scotch were
conciliated by the marriage of his daughter Margaret to their king, James
IV.; increased prosperity followed, maritime enterprise was encouraged,
but the kingly power grew at the expense of the constitutional authority
of Parliament; resort was had to benevolences and other unconstitutional
methods of raising funds, and in his latter years the king's exactions
became tyrannical; Henry was not a man of fine kingly qualities, but he
accomplished much for his country, and is best described in Gardiner's
words, "his contemporaries needed a chief-constable to keep order, and he
gave them what they needed" (1456-1509).
HENRY VIII., king of England from 1509 to 1547, son of preceding,
born at Greenwich; was welcomed to the throne with great enthusiasm, and
still further established himself in public favour by his gallant
exploits at the Battle of Spurs and at the sieges of Tournay and
Terouenne in the war of the Holy Alliance against France; in his absence
an invasion of James IV. of Scotland was repulsed and the Scottish army
crushed at Flodden (1513); during the first half of the reign public
affairs were mainly conducted by the king's favourite minister, Wolsey,
whose policy it was to hold the balance of power between Spain and
France; but he fell into public disfavour by the heavy burden of taxation
which he little by little laid upon the people; Henry, who in 1521 had
been named "Defender of the Faith" by the Pope for his published defence
of the sacraments against the attacks of Luther, was now moving for a
divorce from his first wife Catherine of Arragon; a breach with the Pope
ensued, Wolsey was deposed for his double-dealing in the matter, and
Henry, having defiantly married Anne Boleyn, put an end to the papal
jurisdiction in England to secure himself against appeals to the Papal
Court, and got himself acknowledged Supreme Head of the Church of
England; the suppression of the monasteries soon followed, and their
estates were confiscated (1536-1540); in 1536 the movement of the
Reformation was continued by the drawing up of _Ten Articles_ and by an
authorised translation of the Bible; but the passing of the _Six
Articles_ three years later, declaring in favour of the real presence of
Christ in the Eucharist, clerical celibacy, private masses, auricular
confession, &c., was an attempt to stay the rapid spread of Protestant
doctrines; in 1541 Henry was declared King of Ireland, and in the two
following years successful wars were waged with Scotland and France; the
importance of the reign lies in the coincidence of it with the rise and
culmination of the Reformation, a movement brought about in the first
instance by no higher motive than the king's desire for a divorce as well
as for absolute power; but for which a favourable reception had been
prepared beforehand by the spread of the new learning and that free
spirit of inquiry that was beginning to take possession of men's minds;
historians for the greater part agree in representing Henry as a man of
versatile powers, considerable intellectual force, but headstrong,
selfish, and cruel in the gratification of his desires; he was six times
married; Catherine and Anne of Cleves were divorced, Anne Boleyn and
Catherine Howard executed, Jane Seymour died in childbirth, and Catherine
Parr survived him; he left behind to succeed him on the throne Mary,
daughter of Catherine, Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, and Edward,
son of Jane Seymour (1491-1547).
HENRY III., an illustrious Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, son of
Conrad II.; in 1026 he became king of the Germans, succeeded to the
dukedoms of Bavaria and Suabia, and in 1039 assumed the imperial crown;
under his strong and wise government, dissensions, papal and otherwise,
were put down, the territory of the empire extended, and many churches
and monastic schools established (1017-1056).
HENRY IV., Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, son of preceding; his
reign is memorable as witnessing the first open claim on the part of the
Papal power to have dominion over the crowned heads of Europe; Henry's
attempt to depose Gregory VII. was boldly met by a declaration of
excommunication; Henry was forced to do penance and to receive his crown
afresh from the Pope; but the struggle broke out anew; Clement III. was
put up in opposition, and the contest raged with varying success till the
deposition of Henry by his ungrateful son (1050-1106).
HENRY IV., king of France from 1594 till 1610, surnamed "The Great" and
"The Good"; during his reign the great struggle between the Huguenots and
the Catholics continued with unabated fury; Henry saved his life in the
massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day by renouncing his early Calvinism, but
was imprisoned; four years later he was again at the head of the Huguenot
army and defeating the Bourbon claimant for the throne, was crowned king,
but not before waiving his Protestant principles to conciliate the
people; in 1598 he issued the famous Edict of Nantes, giving freedom of
worship to the Huguenots; during his administration the nation was
consolidated, new roads and a growing trade knit the towns together;
financial reforms of great importance were carried out by his celebrated
minister, DUC DE SULLY (q. v.); Henry was assassinated by instigation of
the Jesuits (1553-1610).
HENRY OF HUNTINGDON, a noted English chronicler of the 12th century,
who became archdeacon of Huntingdon, and wrote a Latin history of England
down to the death of Stephen in 1154.
HENRY THE NAVIGATOR, son of John I., king of Portugal, born at
Oporto; an able, enterprising man, animated with a zeal for maritime
discovery, and who at his own expense sent out voyagers who discovered
the Madeira Islands and explored the coast of Africa as far as Cape
Blanco; is said to have been the first to employ the compass for purposes
of navigation; his mother was daughter of John of Gaunt (1391-1460).
HENRY, MATTHEW, a Nonconformist divine; was minister at Hackney,
London; was the author of a commentary long in repute among pious
evangelical people, and to some extent still, as a practical and
devotional guide in the study of the Scriptures (1662-1714).
HENRY, PATRICK, American statesman and orator, born in Virginia;
having been in business he took to law, and rose into fame by his
eloquent pleadings in the cause of the people; played a conspicuous part
in the agitation for independence, especially by his oratory, which was
of a quality to move large audiences; he was a member of the first
Congress in 1774 (1736-1799).
HENRYSON, ROBERT, an early Scottish poet, flourished in the 15th
century; most of his life was spent as a schoolmaster in Dunfermline; his
chief works, which are full of pathos, humour, and a fine descriptive
power, include "Testament of Cresseid," a continuation of Chaucer's tale,
"Robene and Makyne," the earliest Scottish pastoral, a metrical version
of some of "AEsop's Fables," and the story of "Orpheus and Eurydice."
HEPHAESTOS, called Vulcan by the Romans, the Greek god of fire, or of
labour in the element of fire, the son of Zeus and Hera, represented as
ill-shapen, lame, and ungainly, so much so as to be an object of ridicule
to the rest of the pantheon, but he was indispensable to the dynasty, and
to none more than his father and mother, who were often unkind to him; he
had his smithy in Olympus in the vicinity of the gods, and the marvellous
creations of his art were shaped on an anvil, the hammer of which was
plied by 20 bellows that worked at his bidding; in later traditions he
had his workshop elsewhere, and the Cyclops for his servants, employed in
manufacturing thunderbolts for Zeus; he was wedded to Aphrodite, whom he
caught playing false with Ares, and whom he trapped along with him in a
net a spectacle to all the upper deities.
HEPTAD, a term in chemistry to denote an atom that is the equivalent
of seven atoms of hydrogen, from _hepta_, seven.
HEPTARCHY, ANGLO-SAXON, the seven kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, Wessex,
Essex, Northumberland, East Anglia, and Mercia, the chief of those
established by the Saxons during the 6th century in Great Britain.
HEPTATEUCH, a name given to the first seven books of the Bible.
HERA, called Juno by the Romans, daughter of Cronos and Rhea, and
sister and wife of Zeus; was the queen of heaven, and treated with the
same reverence as her husband, but being inferior in power was bound to
obey him equally with the rest, or suffer if she did not; she was jealous
of Zeus in his amours with mortals, and persecuted all his children by
mortal mothers, Hercules among the chief.
HERACLES, i. e. the chosen of Hera, to be tried by her. See
HERCULES.
HERACLI`DAE, Spartans, presumed descendants of Hercules, who at one
time invaded and took possession of the Peloponnesus.
HERACLITUS, a Greek philosopher, born at Ephesus, who flourished
about the year 480 B.C.; was the first to note how everything throughout
the universe is in constant flux, and nothing permanent but in transition
from being to nothing and from nothing to being, from life to death and
from death to life, that nothing is, that everything becomes, that the
truth of being is becoming, that no one, nothing, is exempt from this
law, the law symbolised by the fable of the PHOENIX IN THE FIRE
(q. v.).
HERACLIUS, Emperor of the East from 610 to 642, born in Cappadocia;
raised to the throne of the East on account of the services he rendered
the citizens of Constantinople in getting rid of a tyrant; waged war
against the hostile Persians, defeated Chosroes, and compelled a peace,
but was unable to withstand the arms of the Moslem invaders.
HERAT (50), the chief town of the province of Herat, in W.
Afghanistan, on the Hari-Rud, 300 m. W. of Cabul; its central position
has given it a great commercial and military importance; it has
manufactures of leather and wool, and as a place of great strategical
value, since the advance of Russia in Asia is strongly fortified by a
British citadel and garrison.
HERAULT (462), a maritime dep. of S. France fronting the Gulf of
Lyons; in the N. are the Cevennes Mountains, but wide plains fringed on
the sea border with large lagoons occupy the S.; the climate, except on
the marshy coast, is dry and healthy; its former importance as a
wine-growing district has greatly diminished, but olives and almonds are
cultivated, sheep and silkworms bred; coal is the most important mineral;
salt is obtained in large quantities from the salt marshes, and fishing
is an important industry.
HERBART, German philosopher, born at Oldenburg; Kant's successor at
Koenigsberg, professor also at Goettingen twice over; founded his
philosophy like Kant on the criticism of subjective experience, but
arrived at different results, and arrayed itself against the whole
post-Kantian philosophy of Germany; it is described by SCHWEGLER
"as an extension of the monadology of Leibnitz, full of ingenuity but
devoid of inward fertility, or any germ of movement"; he failed to see,
as Dr. Stirling points out, that "Philosophy is possible only on the
supposition of a single principle that possesses within itself the
capability of transition into all existent variety and varieties"
(1776-1841).
HERBERT, EDWARD, LORD, of Cherbury, diplomatist, soldier, and
scholar, born at Montgomery Castle, in Wales; served as a soldier under
Maurice of Orange; was twice ambassador in France, but chiefly devoted to
philosophical speculation; was the first of the deistical writers of
England, though his deism was dogmatic not critical, positive not
sceptical, as that of the subsequent English deists is (1581-1648).
HERBERT, GEORGE, poet, brother of the preceding, born in Montgomery
Castle; failing in preferment at Court, took holy orders and became
rector of Bemerton, Wiltshire, a post he lived only two years to hold;
was the author of a Christian poem entitled "The Temple"; held in high
regard by people of the devout and reverently contemplative spirit of the
author; his memory is embalmed in a Life of him by Izaak Walton
(1593-1632).
HERBERT, SIDNEY (Lord Herbert of Lea), politician, born at Richmond;
entered the House of Commons in 1832 as a Tory, and was in turn Secretary
to the Admiralty and War Secretary under Peel; during the Aberdeen
ministry he, as War Secretary, incurred much popular disfavour for the
mismanagement of the Crimean War, but under Palmerston he effected many
beneficial reforms while at the head of the War Office; he was elevated
to the House of Lords in 1860 (1810-1861).
HERCULANEUM, a city of ancient Italy, overwhelmed in A.D. 79 along
with Pompeii and Stabiae by an eruption of Vesuvius, at the north-western
base of which it was situated, 5 m. E. of Naples; so completely was it
buried by the ashes and lava that its site was completely obliterated,
and in time two villages sprang up on the new surface, 40 to 100 ft.
below which lay the buried city; relics were discovered while deepening a
well in 1706, and since then a considerable portion of the town has been
excavated, pictures, statues, &c., of the greatest value having been
brought to light.
HERCULES, the typical hero of the Greeks, son of Zeus and Alkmene,
and the tried therefore of Hera, who persecuted him from his cradle,
sending two serpents to devour him as he lay there, but which he
strangled with his arms; grown into manhood, and distinguished for his
stature and strength, was doomed by the artifice of Hera to a series of
perilous adventures before he could claim his rights as a son of his
father; these are known as the "Twelve Labours of Hercules": the first
the throttling of the Nemean lion; the second, the killing of the Lernean
hydra; the third, the hunt and capture of the hind of Diana, with its
hoofs of brass; the fourth, the taking alive of the boar of Erymanthus;
the fifth, the cleansing of the stables of Augeas; the sixth, the
destruction of the Stymphalian birds; the seventh, the capture of the
Cretan bull; the eighth, the capture of the mares of Diomedes of Thrace;
the ninth, the seizure of the girdle of the queen of the Amazons; the
tenth, the killing of Geryon and capture of his oxen; the eleventh,
fetching of the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides; the
twelfth, dragging Cerberus to the light of day. These were the twelve,
but in addition, he strangled the giant Antaeus, slew the robber Cacus,
delivered Hesione, unchained Prometheus from the rocks of Caucasus, and
smote the centaur Nessus, the last proving the cause of his death. See
NESSUS.
HERCULES, THE CHOICE OF, the choice of a life of virtue offered to
him by Athene, in preference to a life of pleasure offered by Aphrodite,
in his youth.
HERCULES, THE PILLARS OF, two mountains on the opposite sides of the
Strait of Gibraltar, originally one, but fabled to have been separated by
Hercules, Calpe on the Spanish coast and Abyla on the African.
HERCYNIAN FOREST, a forest of Central Germany, extending at one time
from the Rhine to the Carpathian Mountains, described by Caesar as nine
days journey in breadth and sixty in length, is now the district of the
Harz Mountains.
HERDER, an eminent German thinker, born at Mohrungen, in East
Prussia; studied philosophy under Kant, but gave himself up chiefly to
literature; became acquainted at Strasburg with Goethe, who was five
years his junior, and exercised a great influence over him in his youth;
in after years was invited by him to Weimar, where he became court
preacher and consistorial councillor, and where he died; wrote the
"Spirit of Hebrew Poetry," "Ideas towards a Philosophy of the History of
Humanity," and "Poems" (1744-1803).
HEREFORD (20), the county town of Herefordshire, on the Wye, 144 m.
NW. of London; has some fine old buildings, including a noble cathedral
begun in 1079, ruins of a castle, &c.; it was made the seat of a
bishopric in 676; it is noted for its roses and agricultural produce.
HEREFORDSHIRE (116), an inland county of West England, lying on the
Welsh border between Shropshire and Monmouthshire; it is a pretty
agricultural county, through the centre of which runs the Wye; in the E.
are the Malvern Hills and in the SW. the Black Mountains (2631 ft); the
rich red soil produces fine wheat, hops, and apples; there is some trade
in timber, some stone and marble quarrying, and the cattle are noted; its
history is associated with many stirring historical events, and in
various parts are antiquities of considerable interest.
HERENNIUS, a Samnite general, who defeated the Romans at the Caudine
Forks, and made them pass under the yoke, 321 B.C.
HEREWARD THE WAKE, a Saxon hero, a yeoman, who made a gallant effort
to rally his countrymen against the Norman Conqueror; he made his final
stand on the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire (1070-71), cut his way through
the besieging army, and escaped to the Fens; subsequently it is supposed
he became reconciled to William and held estates.
HERFORD (16), a Prussian town in Westphalia, 59 m. SW. of Hanover;
manufactures textiles, sugar, &c.
HERGEST, THE RED BOOK OF, an important volume of Welsh writings in
MS., preserved at Oxford; it dates from the 14th century; was compiled at
Hergest Court, and is the most valuable Welsh MS. extant.
HERIOT, GEORGE, founder of Heriot's Hospital, a splendid educational
establishment in his native city, Edinburgh; was a prosperous goldsmith
there; did work for Anne of Denmark, consort of James VI. of Scotland; in
1603 removed with the court to London and combining banking with his
other business, he amassed a great fortune, and, dying childless, left
his property to found and endow the educational institution referred to,
and which still bears his name; in 1837 the accumulated surplus funds
were utilised in establishing 10 free schools in Edinburgh, which,
however, were closed in 1885, and the original Hospital reconstructed as
a secondary and technical school, while a portion of the funds was used
in subsidising the Heriot-Watt College and in founding bursaries
(1563-1624).
HERISTAL (12), a town of Belgium, on the Meuse, practically a NE.
suburb of Liege; the inhabitants are largely employed in coal-mining and
in flourishing iron-works; the ruins of a castle, the birthplace of Pepin
d'Heristal, still remains.
HERKOMER, HUBERT, artist, born at Waal, Bavaria; his father removing
to England in 1857, young Hubert became a distinguished student of the
Southampton School of Art; he has been a prolific artist, and many of his
portraits have become celebrated; the "Last Muster" (1875) is reckoned
his finest work; he has been twice Slade professor at Oxford, and in 1890
was elected R.A.; the School of Art at Bushey was founded by him, and he
has displayed his versatility of talent in carving, engraving, and
writing, as well as in painting; _b_. 1849.
HERMANDAD, SANTA (i. e. Holy Brotherhood), an association of the
principal cities of Spain leagued together at first against the
pillagings and robberies of the nobles, and eventually against all forms
of violence and lawlessness in the State.
HERMANN AND DOROTHEA, the title of an idyll by Goethe.
HERMANNSTADT (22), an old historic town of Hungary, formerly capital
of Transylvania; overlooks the Zibin; 60 m. SE. of Klausenburg; is the
seat of a Greek archbishop and of a "Saxon" university. Amongst its
notable buildings is the Bruckenthal Palace, with valuable art, library,
and antiquarian collections; has various manufactures.
HERMAS, one of the Apostolic Fathers of the Church; wrote a work in
Greek called the "Shepherd of Hermas," extant in Latin, and treating of
Christian duties.
HERMES, the Mercury of the Romans; in the Greek mythology the herald
of the gods and the god of eloquence and of all kinds of cunning and
dexterity in word and action; invented the lyre, the alphabet, numbers,
astronomy, music, the cultivation of the olive, &c.; was the son of Zeus
and Maia; wore on embassy a winged cap, winged sandals, and carried a
herald's wand as symbol of his office.
HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, or the Thrice-greatest, an Egyptian or Egyptian
god to whose teachings or inspirations the Neo-Platonists ascribed the
great body of their peculiar doctrines, and whom they regarded as an
incarnation or impersonation of the _Logos_.
HERMI`ONE, the beautiful daughter of Menelaus and Helen; married to
Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, but carried off by Orestes, her first love.
HERMODEUS, a son of Odin and messenger of the Norse gods.
HERNIA, the name given to the protrusion of an internal organ,
specially a part of the intestines.
HERO, a priestess of Venus at Sestos, in Thrace, beloved by Leander
of Abydos, on the opposite shore, who swam the Hellespont every night to
visit her, but was drowned one stormy evening, whereupon at sight of his
dead body on the beach she threw herself into the sea.
HERO, a mathematician, born at Alexandria in the first half of the
2nd century; celebrated for his experiments on condensed air, and his
anticipation of the pressure of steam.
HERO, a name given by the Greeks to human beings of such superhuman
faculties as to be regarded the offspring of some god, and applied in
modern times to men of an intellect and force of character of such
transcendent nature as to inspire ordinary mortals with something like
religious regard.
HEROD, the name of a family of Idumaean origin but Jewish creed, who
rose into power in Judea shortly prior to the dissolution of the Jewish
nationality; the chief members of which were HEROD THE GREAT, king
of the Jews by favour of the Romans, who made away with all his rivals,
caused his own children to be strangled on suspicion of their conspiring
against him, and died a painful death; who massacred the Innocents about
Bethlehem, and whose death took place 4 B.C., the true date of the
Nativity of Christ: and HEROD ANTIPAS, his son, tetrarch of Galilee,
who beheaded John the Baptist, and to whom Christ was remitted by Pilate
for examination, and who died in exile at Lyons.
HERODIANS, a party in Judea who from motives of self-interest
supported the dynasty of the Herods.
HERODOTUS, the oldest historian of Greece, and the "Father of
History," born at Halicarnassus, in Caria, between 490 and 480 B.C.;
travelled over Asia Minor, Egypt, and Syria as far as Babylon, and in his
old age recorded with due fidelity the fruits of his observations and
inquiries, the main object of his work being to relate the successive
stages of the strife between the free civilisation of Greece and the
despotic barbarism of Persia for the sovereignty of the world, an
interest in which Alexander the Great drew sword in the century following
(484-408 B.C.).
HEROPHILUS, a celebrated Greek physician who lived into the 3rd
century B.C., born at Chalcedon, and settled at Alexandria, where he
devoted himself specially to anatomy and helped to found the medical
school in that city; his zeal is said to have led him to dissect
criminals alive; some of his writings are yet extant.
HERRERA, ANTONIO, Spanish historian, born at Cuellar; under Philip
II. he became historiographer of the Indies and Castile; he was a
voluminous writer, and his "Description of the Indies," "History of the
World in the Reign of Philip II.," from their fairness and accuracy are
reckoned authoritative works on Spanish history (1549-1625).
HERRERA, FERNANDO DE, Spanish poet, born at Seville, and took
orders; in his lifetime his lyrics enjoyed a wide popularity, and won for
him the epithet "divine"; his "Battle of Lepanto" is a spirited ode, and
many of his other works, including a prose history of the "War in
Cyprus," are still read (1534-1597).
HERRERA, FRANCISCO, a distinguished Spanish painter, founder of the
Seville school, born at Seville; his finest paintings include "The Last
Judgment" and a "Holy Family," both in churches at Seville; others are in
the Louvre, Paris; they exhibit boldness of execution with faultless
technique (1576-1656). He is known as _El viejo_, "the elder," to
distinguish him from FRANCISCO HERRERA, his son, also a noted
painter (1622-1685).
HERRICK, ROBERT, a Caroline poet, born in London, of good family;
was incumbent of Dean Prior in Devonshire; author of the "Hesperides,"
published in 1648, a collection of "gay and charming" pieces, "in which,"
says Stopford Brooke, "Horace and Tibullus seem to mingle their peculiar
art, which never misses its aim nor fails in exquisite execution"
(1591-1674).
HERRNHUT, a small Saxon town, 50 m. E. of Dresden; gave name to a
colony of Moravian Brethren who took refuge there in 1792, and were
protected by Count Zinzendorf.
HERSCHEL, SIR JOHN, astronomer, only son of Sir William; prosecuted
with great diligence and success the same researches as his father; spent
four years at the Cape, and added much to our knowledge of the stars and
meteorology; contributed a "Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural
Philosophy" to Lardner's "Cyclopaedia," and an excellent "Treatise on
Astronomy," afterwards extended (1790-1871).
HERSCHEL, LUCRETIA, sister of the succeeding; was his assistant, and
made important observations of her own, which were published; retired
after her brother's death to Hanover, where she died (1750-1848).
HERSCHEL, SIR WILLIAM, a distinguished astronomer, born at Hanover;
son of a musician, and bred to the profession; came to England at the end
of the Seven Years' War, and obtained sundry appointments as an organist;
gave his leisure time to the study of astronomy and survey of the
heavens; discovered the planet Uranus in 1781, which he called _Georgium
sidus_ in honour of George III., discovered also the two innermost belts
of Saturn, as well as drew up a catalogue of 5000 heavenly bodies or
clusters of them (1738-1822).
HERTFORD (7), the county town of Hertfordshire, on the Lea, 26 m. N.
of London; some few remains of its famous 10th-century castle still
exist, and there are several charity schools, a castle built in James
I.'s time, and a branch of Christ's Hospital (London); the chief trade is
in corn, malt, and flour; in the vicinity is HAILEYBURY COLLEGE
(q. v.).
HERTFORDSHIRE or HERTS (220), an inland county of England,
occupying a central position between Buckingham and Bedford on the W. and
Essex on the E.; the surface is undulating and much covered with wood;
the Lea and the Colne are the chief rivers; large crops of barley, wheat,
and hay are raised; straw-plaiting and the manufacture of paper, silk,
and chemicals are carried on extensively, while Ware is the centre of the
English malting trade; ST. ALBANS (q. v.) is the largest town.
HERTHA, the Scandinavian Cybele, and worshipped with kindred
ceremonies.
HERTZ, HENRIK, Danish poet, born in Copenhagen of Jewish parents;
graduated in law at Copenhagen, and produced his first work, a comedy, in
1827; "Letters of a Ghost," a satire, followed three years later, and had
a wide vogue; his best-known work is "King Rene's Daughter," which has
been translated into English for the fourth time by Sir Theodore Martin;
he is considered one of the greatest of modern Danish lyrists and
dramatists (1798-1870).
HERVEY, JAMES, clergyman and poet, born at Hardingstone, near
Northampton; graduated at Oxford; became curate and subsequently the
zealous incumbent of two livings near Northampton; was the author of
"Meditations among the Tombs"; was held in great popular favour during
his lifetime (1714-1758).
HERWARTH VON BITTENFELD, KARL EBERHARD, a Prussian general; came to
the front during the war of liberation, and in 1864 as general captured
the Isle of Alsen, and two years later operated with great success at the
head of the army in Saxony and Bohemia; during the Franco-German War he
became governor of the Rhine provinces and a field-marshal (1796-1884).
HERZ, HENRI, pianist and composer, born in Vienna, the son of a Jew;
his compositions attained a wide popularity in Europe, and as a pianist
he was received with great favour in England and America; he was
decorated with the Legion of Honour, and from 1842 to 1874 was professor
at the Paris Conservatoire; _b_. 1806.
HERZEN, ALEXANDER, a Russian political writer and revolutionary,
born at Moscow; expelled from Russia in 1842; settled in England, and
published works forbidden in Russia (1812-1870).
HESIOD, one of the earliest Greek poets, born in Boeotia, lived in
the 8th century B.C., chiefly at Orchomenos, probably of humble birth;
of the works ascribed to him the principal were the "Works and Days" the
"Theogony," and the "Shield of Hercules"; his poems treat of the quiet
pursuits of ordinary life, the origin of the world, the gods and heroes,
while those of Homer are occupied with the restless and active
enterprises of the heroic age.
HESPERIDES, maidens of high degree appointed to guard the golden
apples presented to Hera by Gaia on her marriage with Zeus, assisted in
their office by the dragon Ladon; the apples were stolen by Hercules, but
were afterwards restored by Athene.
HESPERUS, the personification of the evening star and an object of
worship.
HESSE or HESSE-DARMSTADT (993), a grand-duchy of the German
empire, lies partly in, and partly on the border of, SW. Prussia;
consists of two large portions, divided by a strip of Hesse-Nassau, and
11 enclaves; half the land is under cultivation, and the greater part of
what remains is covered with forest; its many rivers belong mostly to the
Rhine system; corn is raised in large quantities, iron and manganese are
found, and there are flourishing manufactures of leather, upholstery,
tobacco, &c.; the legislative power is vested in two chambers; Mainz is
the largest town, and Darmstadt the capital.
HESSE-CASSEL (745), a government district in HESSE-NASSAU
(q. v.); as an electorate it sided with Austria in 1866, which brought
about its incorporation with Prussia.
HESSE-NASSAU (1,664), a province in the SW. of Germany, between the
Rhine on the W. and Bavaria and Saxony on the E.; was formed in 1868 out
of the electorate of Hesse-Cassel, duchy of Nassau, &c.; the country is
hilly, abounds in minerals, which are extensively worked, but agriculture
and cattle-rearing are the chief industries; the medicinal springs of
Homburg, Wiesbaden, &c., are celebrated; Cassel is noted for its gold and
silver ware; damasks and other textiles are produced at Fulda, and at
Hanau are flourishing iron-works; Marburg has a fine university.
HESTIA, called Vesta by the Romans, the Greek goddess of the hearth,
or rather the fire that burns in it, the guardian of domestic life,
conceived of as a most sacred charge.
HESYCHASTS, a religious sect of the 14th century belonging to the
Greek Church; consisted chiefly of a community of monks who dwelt at
Mount Athos; they professed a kind of QUIETISM (q. v.), and were
noted for their practice of sitting for hours daily with their eyes fixed
upon the navel (regarding the stomach as the seat of the soul); in this
position they professed to see a divine light beaming out upon them, and
to enjoy therein a specially intimate communion with God. See ATHOS,
MOUNT.
HESYCHIUS, a Greek grammarian of the 5th century, born at
Alexandria; produced a Greek lexicon of great philological value.
HEUSCHRECKE, HOFRATH (i. e. State-Councillor Grasshopper), a
loose, zigzag figure in "Sartor," a mend and blind admirer of
Teufelsdroeckh's, an incarnation of distraction distracted, and all the
counsellor the "editor" had to advise him and encourage him in his work;
a victim to "timidity" and preyed on by an uncomfortable sense of mere
"physical cold," such as the majority of the State counsellors of the day
were.
HEXATEUCH, the name given to the first six books of the Bible.
HEXHAM (6), an interesting old town in Northumberland, prettily
situated on the Tyne, 24 m. W. of Newcastle; has a fine cruciform abbey
church, portions of which belong to the 12th century, and beautiful
remains of a 7th-century monastery; the staple industries are glove and
hat making; the river is spanned by a stone bridge of nine arches.
HEYLIN, PETER, English divine, born at Burford; graduated at Oxford,
and in 1629 became chaplain-in-ordinary to Charles I.; was a zealous
champion of the Church of England; forfeited his livings and property
during the Puritan ascendency, but was reinstated at the Restoration; he
wrote a "Defence of the Church of England," "Life of Bishop Laud," &c.
(1600-1662).
HEYNE, CHRISTIAN GOTTLOB, a German classical scholar, born at
Chemnitz, son of a poor weaver, and reared all along almost on the verge
of destitution; became eminent by his heroic devotion to scholarship,
both as a translator and editor of classical works, his edition of
"Virgil" the chief in the latter department; Carlyle almost ranks him
among his heroes, and ascribes superlative merit to his book on Virgil
(1729-1812).
HEYSE, PAUL JOHANN, German poet and novelist, born at Berlin; in
1854 he settled at Muenich, where he enjoyed the patronage of King Max of
Bavaria; he has been a voluminous writer of popular novelettes, novels,
dramas, and narrative poems, besides which he has executed translations
of Leopardi, Giusti, and other Italian authors; _b_. 1830.
HEYWOOD (23), a town of Lancashire, 9 m. N. of Manchester; owes its
rapid growth to the neighbouring coal-fields and the development of the
cotton industry; has also flourishing iron and brass foundries, woollen
factories, &c.
HEYWOOD, JOHN, a dramatic poet, a favourite with Henry VIII. and his
court; wrote farces, the characters of which were drawn from real life,
presumably not hard to identify at the time (1479-1565).
HEZEKIAH, a king of Judah; reigned from 725 to 697 B.C.;
distinguished for his zeal in the celebration of the worship of Jehovah
and for his weakness in making a parade of his wealth; reigned in the
golden age of Hebrew prophecy, Isaiah and Micah being his contemporaries.
HIAWATHA, the subject of a poem of Longfellow's; a personage
reverenced by the North American Indians as the founder among them of the
arts of peace, as well as the clearer of the forests.
HIBBERT LECTURES, unsectarian lectures instituted by the trustees of
Robert Hibbert, a West India merchant, devoted to the discussion of
unsolved problems in theology.
HIBERNIA, the classical name for Ireland, which to the ancient world
was in the main a _terra incognita_.
HICKS, ELIAS, an American preacher of the Quaker connection, who
adopted Unitarian views and caused a split in the body (1748-1830).
HICKS-BEACH, SIR MICHAEL EDWARD, Conservative politician, born in
London; educated at Eton and Oxford, and in 1864 entered Parliament; took
office as Under-Secretary for Home Affairs under Disraeli, and in 1874
became Secretary for Ireland; four years later he was Lord Carnarvon's
successor at the Colonial Office, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader
of the House of Commons in 1885, Secretary for Ireland in 1886, President
of the Board of Trade in 1888, and in 1895, on the formation of a
Coalition Ministry, again became Chancellor of the Exchequer; _b_. 1837.
HIERAPOLIS, 1, an ancient city of Syria Cyrrhestica, now in ruins,
situated between Antioch and Mesopotamia, 14 m. W. of the Euphrates; had
considerable commercial importance, and was famous for its great temple
of Astarte. 2, A city of ancient Phrygia, 5 m. N. of Laodicea; the
birthplace of Epictetus, and where Paul founded a church; was celebrated
for its hot springs.
HIERO I., tyrant of Syracuse; broke the naval power of Etruria by
victory over the Etruscan fleet near Cannae, 474 B.C.; was an enlightened
patron of men of letters, many of whom he entertained at his court,
AEschylus, Pindar, and Simonides among the number; _d_. 467 B.C.
HIERO II., king of Syracuse, for near half a century the steadfast
friend and ally of the Romans; unlike his namesake he was averse to
display, and was accustomed to appear in public in the garb of a common
citizen; he ruled his country well; _d_. 216 B.C. at the age of 92.
HIERONYMUS. See JEROME.
HIGDEN, RALPH, author of the "Polychronicon"; was a Benedictine
monk, who spent his long life in St. Werburgh's monastery, Chester; the
work with which his name is associated is an account of the world down to
the end of Edward III.'s reign, but the chronicle of the last 50 years is
supposed to have been written by other hands; Caxton published a
translation made by John Trevisa; _d_. about 1307.
HIGGINS, MATTHEW JAMES, essayist, wrote under the _nom de plume_ of
"Jacob Omnium," born at Benown, Ireland; was educated at Eton and Oxford,
and spent many years in European travel; his numerous papers, which
appeared in the leading magazines and newspapers, were principally
directed against social abuses, and are characterised by a humour and
pungent irony not unlike his friend Thackeray's (1810-1868).
HIGGINSON, THOMAS WENTWORTH, an American author and abolitionist,
born at Cambridge, Massachusetts; graduated at Harvard, and took orders,
but resigned in 1858 to devote himself to politics in the anti-slavery
interest; during the Civil War he commanded the first regiment of freed
slaves; subsequently he resumed literary work, and in 1880 became a
member of the Massachusetts Legislature; he wrote a "History of the
United States," "Army Life in a Black Regiment," &c.; _b_. 1823.
HIGH CHURCH, that section of the Episcopal Church in England who
attach supreme importance to the administration of word and sacrament by
clergy duly ordained, and regarded by them as such, the sole divinely
appointed media of divine grace.
HIGH PLACES, elevated spots on which altars were erected for worship
in the rude belief that, as they were nearer heaven than the plains and
valleys, they were more favourable places for prayer. The practice of
worship on these spots, though from the first forbidden, became frequent
among the Jews, and was with difficulty abolished, though denounced time
after time by the prophets as an affront to Jehovah.
HIGH SEAS, as understood in international law means the entire sea
or ocean area which lies beyond a three-mile belt of coast water. This
coastal strip is called the _mare clausum_, and the rights of fishing,
&c., in it are reserved to the country upon which it borders.
HIGHGATE, a noted suburb of London, 5 m. N. of the General
Post-Office; the burial-place of Coleridge, George Eliot, and Faraday.
Dick Whittington's Stone is at the foot of Highgate Hill.
HILARION, ST., founder of monachism in Palestine; was a convert of
St. Anthony, and of great repute for sanctity (291-372). Festival, Oct.
21.
HILARY, ST., bishop of Poitiers, of which he was a native;
distinguished himself by his zeal against the Arians; his writings
valuable in connection with that controversy; _d_. 367. Festival, Jan.
13.
HILDEBRAND. See GREGORY VII.
HILDESHEIM (33), a town in Hanover, Prussia, on the Innerste, 24 m.
SE. of Hanover; is a quaint old town, and has several ancient churches,
notably a noble cathedral of the 11th century, with famous bronze gates;
trades in corn, linen, &c.
HILL, REV. ROWLAND, a popular but eccentric preacher, born in
Hawkeston, the son of a baronet, came under the influence of Whitfield
and the Methodist movement, and while yet an undergraduate became an
itinerant preacher; he took orders in 1774; but continued his open-air
preaching till 1783, when he established himself in London, starting an
unlicensed place of worship, although still remaining a communicant of
the Church of England; he originated the first Sunday School in London,
and was the author of several religious works, including a volume of
hymns (1744-1833).
HILL, SIR ROWLAND, originator of the penny postage, born at
Kidderminster; commenced life as a teacher and educationist; interested
himself in the colonisation of South Australia, and held a post in
connection with it; published in 1837 his pamphlet, "Post-Office
Reforms," and saw his scheme of uniform postage rate adopted three years
after, though not till 1354 did he become secretary to the
Postmaster-General or have full power and opportunity to carry his views
out (1795-1879).
HILL, VISCOUNT, British general, born in Shropshire; entered the
army at fifteen, served under Sir John Moore, and under the Duke of
Wellington in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, where he commanded a
division; succeeded Wellington in 1828 as commander-in-chief (1772-1842).
HILLEL, an eminent and influential Jewish Rabbi, born in Babylon
about 112 B.C.; devoted his life to the study of the Jewish law, formed
a digest of it, and founded a school; was a good and wise man and
teacher; died at a great age, 120 years old it is said.
HIMALAYAS ("the abode of snow"), a stupendous mountain chain
stretching 1500 m. along the northern frontier of India, and dividing
that country from Thibet; forty-five of its peaks attain a greater height
than those of any other mountain system in the world; Mount Everest, the
loftiest, reaches 29,002 ft.; the best-known pass is the _Karakoram Pass_
(18,550 ft.), leading into Eastern Turkestan; there are few lakes, but
amid the snowy heights rise the rivers Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, &c.;
gold, iron, copper, and lead are wrought.
HINCKLEY (10), a nicely built town of Leicestershire, 13 m. W. of
Leicester; has an interesting old parish church of Edward III.'s time;
does a good trade in hosiery, baskets, boots, &c.
HINC`MAR, a famous Frankish churchman; was appointed archbishop of
Rheims, in which capacity he maintained an independent attitude towards
the Papal See, and distinguished himself as a champion of ecclesiastical
liberty (806-882).
HIND, JOHN RUSSELL, an eminent astronomer, born at Nottingham; at 17
he obtained a post in the Greenwich Observatory; subsequently became
observer in Mr. Bishop's private observatory, Regent's Park, where his
untiring assiduity was rewarded by the discovery of several new movable
stars and 10 minor planets; he received various honours from societies;
was President of the Royal Astronomical Society, and in 1852 was
pensioned by Government; his works include "The Comets," "The Solar
System," &c. (1823-1895).
HINDLEY (19), a busy manufacturing town in Lancashire, 3 m. SE. of
Wigan; the staple industry is the manufacture of cotton; in the vicinity
are large coal-mines.
HINDU KUSH, a lofty mountain range stretching 365 m. from the
western extremity of the Himalayas, from which it is cut off by the
valley of the Indus into Afghanistan, which it divides from Turkestan; it
attains an elevation of 23,000 ft.; is crossed by several passes, and is
rich in minerals, especially iron; the tribes that inhabit it are chiefly
Shins and Dards.
HINDUISM, the name given to certain forms of religion among the
Hindus, the characteristics of which are the worship of divinities
exalted above the rest, and the highly concrete and intensely personal
conception of these, which comes out in sundry accounts respecting them
of a biographical nature which divinities are identified either with Civa
or Vishnu, and their religions called Civaite or Vishnuite, while their
respective followers are styled Caivas or Vishnavas.
HINDUSTAN, a name sometimes loosely applied to the entire Indian
peninsula, but which, strictly speaking, embraces only the country of the
upper valley of the Ganges, divided into NW. Provinces, Oude, and Behar;
the language spoken is Hindi, a pure Sanskritic tongue, on which
Hindustani is based, but with large Persian and Arabic admixtures.
HINDUSTANI, the official and common language of India.
HINTON, JAMES, aurist and metaphysician, born at Reading; after
taking his degree was for some time at sea and in Jamaica, but in 1850
established himself in London; specialising in ear-diseases he rose to
the top of his profession, becoming lecturer at Guy's Hospital; his
leisure was earnestly devoted to philosophy, and gave fruit in "Man and
his Dwelling-Place," "The Mystery of Pain," "Philosophy and Religion,"
&c. (1822-1875).
HIOUEN-THSANG, a Chinese Buddhist, who in the 7th century traversed
India collecting books bearing upon the creed and law of Buddhism, and
spent his time after his return in translating them.
HIPPARCHUS, ancient astronomer, born at Nicaea; flourished in the 2nd
century B.C.; discovered among other things the precession of the
equinoxes, determined the place of the equinox, and catalogued 1000 fixed
stars.
HIPPIAS, tyrant of Athens, son of Pisistratus; expelled from Athens,
applied to the Persians to reinstate him, and kindled the first Persian
War with Greece; fell at Marathon, 490 B.C.
HIPPOCRATES, the father of medicine, born at Cos, 460 B.C.; was a
contemporary of Socrates and Plato; was of wide-spread renown as a
physician; settled in Thessaly and died at Larissa advanced in years; no
fewer than 60 writings are ascribed to him, but only a few are genuine.
HIPPOCRENE (lit. the fountain of the horse), a fountain on Mount
Helicon, in Boeotia, sacred to the Muses, and said to have been caused by
PEGASUS (q. v.) striking the spot with his hoof.
HIPPODAMI`A, in the legendary lore of Greece, was the beautiful
daughter of Oenomaus, king of Pisa, in Elis, and the pleiad Sterope; the
oracle had foretold death to Oenomaus on the occasion of his daughter's
marriage, to prevent which the king had made it a condition that each
suitor should run a chariot race with him, and that, if defeated, should
be put to death; many had perished in the attempt to beat the king, till
Pelops, by bribing Oenomaus's charioteer, won the race; the king in a
frenzy killed himself, and the kingdom and the fair Hippodamia passed to
Pelops.
HIPPOLYTE, queen of the Amazons, slain by Hercules in order to
obtain and carry off her magic girdle.
HIPPOLYTUS, ST., bishop of Portus, near Rome; lived in the 3rd
century B.C.; a lost work of his, "A Refutation of all the Heresies,"
was discovered at Mount Athos in 1842, his authorship of which Bunsen
vindicated in "Hippolytus and his Age."
HISPANIA, the ancient name of Spain and Portugal among the Latins.
HISSAR, 1, a district (776) in the Punjab, India; for the most part
sandy, yet in rainy years produces good crops of rice, barley, &c., and
is noted for its white cattle; the capital (14), bearing the same name,
is situated on the Western Jumna Canal, 102 m. W. of Delhi. 2, Also a
district in Central Asia, a dependency of the Khan of Bokhara lying N. of
the Oxus River, and separated from Bokhara by a branch of the Thian Shan
Mountains; has a fertile soil, and exports corn, sheep, &c., to Bokhara.
HISTOLOGY, the science of tissues, vegetable and animal.
HITCHCOCK, EDWARD, American geologist, born in Massachusetts;
reported on the geology of his native State, and on the agricultural
schools of Europe; wrote "Elementary Geology" and the "Religion of
Geology" (1793-1864).
HITCHIN (9), a very old and still prosperous town of Hertfordshire,
on the Hiz, 14 m. NW. of Hertford; does a flourishing trade in corn,
malt, and flour; brewing and straw-plaiting are important industries, and
it has long been noted for its lavender and lavender water.
HITOPADESA (i. e. good instruction), a celebrated Sanskrit
collection of fables, which in the substance of them have passed into all
the civilised literatures of the world.
HITTITES, one of the original tribes of Canaan, and one of the most
powerful, whose dominion extended at one time as far as the border of
Egypt on the one hand, and Mesopotamia on the other, and northward beyond
the Taurus Mountains, traces of which have been discovered over all Asia
Minor, while they were strong enough to engage in war with the Egyptians;
they had two capitals, Kadesh on the Orontes, and Carchemish on the
Euphrates.
HITZIG, FERDINAND, a German Orientalist and biblical scholar, born
in Baden; devoted himself to Old Testament studies; was professor of
Theology first at Zurich and then at Heidelberg; his principal works bore
on Old Testament exegesis (1807-1875).
HOADLY, BENJAMIN, an English prelate, born in Kent; was a keen
controversialist; argued stoutly in defence of civil and religious
liberty, and was an opponent of the pretensions of the High Church party
(1676-1761).
HOANG-HO ("Yellow River"), one of the chief rivers of China, rises
in the plain of Odontala, south of the Kuen-lun Mountains, and sweeps
with impetuous current in a more or less north-easterly direction,
discharging into the Gulf of Pechili after a course of 3000 m.; it is for
the most part quite unnavigable, and its frequent floods are a constant
menace to the districts through which it flows.
HOBART (25), capital of Tasmania, is situated on the estuary of the
Derwent, at the base of Mount Wellington; is handsomely laid out in the
form of a square; is the seat of government, and has many fine public
buildings; has a splendid natural harbour; the manufacture of flour, jam,
leather, besides brewing, shipbuilding, and iron-founding, are its chief
industries; it has extensive suburbs, and is a favourite health resort.
HOBART PASHA, Turkish admiral; was a son of the Duke of Buckingham;
distinguished himself in the British navy before he entered the Turkish
service; had during the Russo-Turkish war in 1877 to withdraw from the
service of the Queen, and shortly afterwards died (1822-1886).
HOB`BEMA, MEINDERT, a famous Dutch landscape painter, born at
Amsterdam; lived chiefly in his native town, and died in poverty; his
fine, subdued pictures of woodland life and scenery are ranked amongst
the masterpieces of Dutch landscape painting, and are the valued
possessions of the National Galleries in London, Berlin, Vienna, &c.
(1638-1709).
HOBBES, THOMAS, an English philosopher, psychologist, and moralist,
born at Malmesbury; was educated at Oxford; connected all his days with
the Cavendish family, with members of which he travelled on the
Continent, and was on friendly terms with Charles II., Bacon, Descartes,
&c.; translated Thucydides, wrote a number of works, "De Cive" among
others, and the "Leviathan," all more or less leading up to the doctrine
that the absolute sovereign power in all matters of right and wrong is
vested in the State as the achieved fact of the emancipation of the race
from savagery (1588-1679).
HOBHOUSE, JOHN CAM, English politician, a friend of Byron;
represented Nottingham and Norwich in Parliament in the Liberal interest,
and held several ministerial appointments (1780-1869).
HO`BOKEN (59), a city of New Jersey, on the Hudson River, adjoining
Jersey City and opposite New York; is an important railway terminus and
shipping-port; does a large trade in coal, lead-pencils, iron-casting,
&c.
HOBSON, a Cambridge stabler who let out horses on hire, the choice
always limited to the one next the door, the one that had been longest
in, hence Hobson's Choice.
HOCCLEVE or OCCLEVE, THOMAS, an early English poet; had an
appointment in the Exchequer Office in Henry V.'s time; his chief work is
the "Government of Princes," but his poems have more linguistic than
poetic interest; has left us an interesting portrait of his contemporary,
Chaucer (1368-1448).
HOCHE, LA, French general, born near Versailles; rose from the ranks
to the command of the army of the Moselle; drove the Austrians out of
Alsace, and suppressed the rising in and pacified La Vendee; while yet a
sergeant bore a hand conspicuously at the overturn of the Bastille
(17681797).
HOCHKIRCH, a village in Saxony where Frederick the Great was
defeated by the Austrian Marshal Daun in 1758.
HODGE. CHARLES, an American theologian, born at Philadelphia;
graduated at Princeton, and in 1822 became professor in the Theological
Seminary in Princeton, a post he held till the close of his life; besides
founding and editing the Princeton Review, was the author of various
commentaries, but is best known by his "Systematic Theology," which is
still a standard text-book (1797-1878).
HODGKINSON, EATON, a distinguished engineer, born at Anderton, near
Norwich; was professor of Engineering in University College, London;
became a leading authority on bridge construction, and carried through
elaborate experiments testing the strength of iron girders; co-operated
in planning the Britannia Tubular Bridge (1789-1861).
HODGSON, BRIAN HOUGHTON, Orientalist, born near Macclesfield; served
in the East India Company, and was Resident in Nepal for more than 20
years; was a voluminous writer on Eastern ethnology, languages, and
zoology, and his valuable collection of MSS. remains the chief source of
our knowledge of northern Buddhism (1800-1895).
HODSON, MAJOR WILLIAM, a noted leader during the Indian Mutiny;
joined the Indian Army in 1845, fought through the first Sikh War, and
subsequently held a civil post in the Punjab; on the outbreak of the
Mutiny he became head of the Intelligence Department, and won celebrity
as the daring but wild leader of an irregular cavalry regiment known as
Hodson's Horse; he took part in the sieges of Delhi, and at Lucknow
captured the Mogul Emperor; shot down with his own hand the young
princes, and a few months later fell himself while storming a palace in
the city (1821-1858).
HOF (25), a town of Bavaria, on the Saale, 40 m. NE. of Baireuth;
has flourishing textile factories, breweries, and iron-works; is
associated with the early struggles of Jean Paul Richter.
HOFER, ANDREAS, Tyrolese patriot; was leader of the Tyrolese against
the Bavarians and the French, and the emancipator thrice over of his
country, but was eventually betrayed by his enemies into the hands of the
French, condemned by court-martial at Mantua, and shot; his family were
indemnified afterwards by the Emperor of Austria, and his son ennobled
(1767-1810).
HOFFMANN, AUGUST HEINRICH, poet and philologist, born at
Fallersleben; studied literature and philology under the influence of the
Grimms, and in 1835 was appointed professor of the German Language at
Breslau, a post he forfeited seven years later by publishing "Lays" of
somewhat radical tendencies; he led an unsettled life till 1860, when he
became librarian to the Duke of Ratibor; his writings include "German
Social Songs of the 16th and 17th Centuries," "German Philology," an
"Autobiography" in six vols., lyrics, &c. (1798-1874).
HOFFMANN, ERNST THEODORE WILHELM, a celebrated German writer, whose
versatility displayed itself in numerous tales, sketches, art-criticisms,
&c., all bearing the impress of a strong, if wayward, intellect; born at
Koenigsberg, was trained to the law, and entered the State service; his
position at Warsaw was lost to him on the entry of the French troops in
1806, and for some years he supported himself by musical criticism in
Leipzig, and as Director of a Dresden Opera Company; in 1816 he was again
in government service at Berlin, where he continued till his death; his
writings are strongly characteristic of the romanticism of his time,
while he himself was a witty, restless leader of Bohemian life
(1776-1822).
HOGARTH, WILLIAM, a famous English painter, caricaturist, and
engraver, born in London; served his time as a silversmith's apprentice;
studied painting, and began to support himself by engraving and etching;
unsuccessful in his attempts at portrait-painting, he at length found his
true vocation in depicting the follies and vices of his age; "A Harlot's
Progress," a series of six pictures engraved by himself, appeared in
1731, and was soon followed by others of a like nature, including "A
Rake's Progress," "Strolling Actresses dressing in a Barn," "Marriage a
la Mode," "Idleness and Industry"; he also produced some indifferent
historical paintings; in 1757 he was appointed sergeant-painter to the
king; in his own department Hogarth has never been equalled, and in the
opinion of Sir Joshua Reynolds, never will be; the deep moral purpose of
his best pictures, made known throughout the country by abundant prints,
must have helped not a little to reform the manners of his time
(1697-1764).
HOGG, JAMES, a Scottish poet, born in Ettrick; had little or no
schooling; was bred a shepherd; took to rhyming; fell in with Sir Walter
Scott, whom he assisted with his "Border Minstrelsy"; rented a farm, and
first came into notice by the publication of his poem, the "Queen's
Wake"; he wrote in prose as well as poetry, with humour as well as no
little graphic power; "was," says Carlyle, "a little red-skinned stiff
sack of a body, with two little blue or grey eyes that sparkled, if not
with thought, yet with animation; was a _real_ product of nature"
(1782-1835).
HOHENLINDEN, a village in Upper Bavaria, 20 m. E. of Muenich;
celebrated as the scene of a victory by the French under Moreau over the
Austrians under Archduke John on 3rd December 1800.
HOHENSTAUFFENS, THE, the third dynasty of the Romish kaisers, which
held the imperial throne from 1138 to 1254, commencing with Frederick I.,
or Barbarossa, and ending with Conrad IV., five in all; derived their
name from a castle on the Hohenstauffen Berg, by the left bank of the
Danube, 30 m. below Stuttgart.
HOHENZOLLERNS, THE, the family which in 1415 became Electors of
Brandenburg, kings of Prussia, and are now at length emperors of Germany;
derived their name from an old castle so called near the springs of the
Danube, a little way north from Constance and its lake.
HOLBACH, BARON VON, a French philosophe born in Heidelsheim, in the
Palatinate, of wealthy parents; lived from youth all his days in Paris,
kept a good table, and entertained all the "Encyclopedie" notabilities at
his board; wrote "Systeme de la Nature," and was a materialist in
philosophy and an atheist in religion, but a kind-hearted man
(1723-1789).
HOLBEIN, HANS, a German painter, born at Augsburg, trained by his
father; attracted the attention of Erasmus, who took a great interest in
him, and persuaded him to go to England, and introduced him to Sir Thomas
More, who in turn introduced him to Henry VIII.; here under Henry's
patronage he remained, executing numerous portraits of his courtiers,
till his death of the plague; his "Last Supper" and "Dance of Death" are
well known (1497-1554).
HOLBERG, LUDWIG, BARON, an eminent Danish author, born at Bergen, in
Norway; graduated at Copenhagen, where, after travel, he became professor
of Metaphysics; subsequently he held in turn the chairs of Eloquence and
of History; he was an author of great versatility, excelling as a writer
of satires, comedies, and as historian of Church and State; his
autobiography is an interesting work, and many of his plays and other
works are among the accepted classics of Danish literature (1684-1754).
HOLCROFT, THOMAS, journalist and political novelist, born in London;
began life as an actor; wrote "Road to Ruin"; was charged with treason,
but acquitted; left "Memoirs" (1744-1809).
HOLDEN, SIR ISAAC, inventor, born at Hurlet, Renfrewshire; worked in
a cotton-mill in Paisley, but betook himself to teaching, and in 1829,
while a teacher of chemistry in Reading, discovered the principle of the
lucifer match; turning to wool-combing as a means of livelihood, he
became established near Paris, where he carried out elaborate
experiments, which resulted in improvements in wool-combing machinery
that brought him fame and fortune; in 1859 he transferred his works to
the vicinity of Bradford; entered Parliament in 1865, and was created a
baronet in 1893 (1807-1897).
HOLINSHED, RAPHAEL, English chronicler of the Elizabethan age; his
"Chronicle," published in two vols. in 1577, supplied Shakespeare with
materials for some of his historical plays; _d_. 1580.
HOLL, FRANK, artist, born in Kentish Town; was highly distinguished
as an art student, and at 23 won the travelling studentship of the
Academy; came into notice first as a _genre_-painter, exhibiting pictures
of a pathetic nature, such as "Want--the Pawnbroker's Shop,"
"Newgate--Committed for Trial," "Ordered to the Front," &c.; subsequently
he won a wide celebrity as a portrait-painter, producing portraits of the
Prince of Wales, Mr. Gladstone, and other distinguished personages
(1845-1888).
HOLLAND (4,795), officially known as the Netherlands, a small
maritime country of Western Europe, bordered on its N. and W. by the
German Ocean, and having Prussia on its E. and Belgium to the S.; its
area, somewhat less than one-fourth the size of England and Wales,
comprises, besides the mainland, two island groups, one in the N. and one
in the S.; its flat surface in great part lies below the level of the
sea, and where there are no natural sandhills is protected from
inundation by enormous dykes, 365 ft. thick, forming excellent
carriage-ways along the coast; much of the soil has been reclaimed by
draining lakes and by pushing back the sea walls, the size of the country
having been increased by one-half since 1833; canals traverse the country
in all directions, and form with the shallow lakes and the great rivers a
complete system of waterways. The climate is for the most part similar to
that of England, but greater extremes of heat and cold are experienced.
Farming is the staple industry, although a considerable portion of the
land is still unfit for cultivation; butter and cheese are the most
valuable products, and are largely exported; the fisheries, coast and
deep sea, are also of much importance; manufactures are retarded by the
want of coal, but the wind is made to supply the motive power, by means
of windmills, to flourishing textile factories (cotton, woollen, and
silk), gin distilleries, pottery works, margarine and cocoa factories,
&c. Holland no longer is the premier shipping country of Europe, a
position it held in the 17th century, but it still maintains a busy
carrying trade with all parts of the world, especially with its many rich
colonies in the East and West Indies, which comprise an area 64 times
larger than Holland itself. The government is a limited monarchy; the
executive power is vested in the crown and the legislation in the
States-General, an assembly consisting of two chambers, the one elected
(for four years) by direct suffrage, the other (for nine years) by
provincial councils. Primary education is free, but not compulsory.
Religion is not established, but about two-thirds of the people are
Protestants, the remainder Roman Catholics. The birth of Holland as an
independent European power took place in the 16th century, when, after an
heroic and protracted struggle, it freed itself from the yoke of Spain,
then the most powerful nation in the world.
HOLLAND, HENRY RICHARD FOX VASSALL-HOLLAND, BARON, statesman, born
in Wilts; succeeded to the title in 1774; entered on a public career as a
Whig under the patronage of his uncle Charles James Fox; held office
under Grenville, Grey, and Melbourne; was imbued with a fine humanitarian
spirit, and fought ably against the slave-trade and the corn-laws; his
cultured literary taste is revealed in his writings, which embrace
Spanish translations, lives of Guillen de Castro and Lope de Vega,
Memoirs, &c. (1773-1840).
HOLLAND, SIR HENRY, physician and author, born at Knutsford, Cheshire;
graduated at Edinburgh in 1811; spent some years in Eastern Europe, and
finally settled in London; he rose to be physician-in-ordinary to the
Prince Consort and the Queen, and in 1853 was created a baronet; wrote
various essays on various branches of medicine, physiology, psychology,
besides "Recollections of Past Life" (1758-1873).
HOLLAND, NORTH (819), one of the eleven provinces of Holland;
comprises the peninsula lying between the Zuider Zee and the German
Ocean. SOUTH HOLLAND, also a province, faces the German Ocean
between Zealand and North Holland. These provinces form the most
important part of the Netherlands, raise the best farm produce and
cattle, and in their great ports Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, the bulk of
the trade of Holland is carried on.
HOLLES, DENZIL, statesman, and one of the "five members," the son of
the Earl of Clare, born at Houghton, Northamptonshire; entering
Parliament in 1624, he joined the opposition against the king, and
actively resisted the imposition of tonnage and poundage, for which he
was heavily fined and imprisoned; subsequently he was one of the five
members whom Charles attempted to arrest in 1642 on a charge of
high-treason; his opposition to the maintenance of a standing Puritan
army involved him in trouble, and he fled the country; after Cromwell's
death he returned, was prominent in promoting the Restoration, received a
peerage, and for some years was engaged in public duties, still remaining
a staunch upholder of the rights of Parliament (1559-1680).
HOLLOWAY (48), a northern district of London, in Islington parish.
HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL, a celebrated American author, born the son
of a Congregational minister, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated
in arts and medicine at Harvard; became professor of Anatomy and
Physiology at Dartmouth College, but resigned and settled in Boston as a
general practitioner; in 1847 he was elected to the chair of Anatomy in
Harvard, a position he held till his resignation in 1882; a successful
professor, it is as an essayist, novelist, and poet that he is
remembered; the appearance of "The Autocrat at the Breakfast-Table," with
its quaint humour, fresh thought, and charming egotism took literary
America by storm; the "Professor" and the "Poet at the Breakfast-Table"
followed in after years, and remain his most widely popular works; "Elsie
Venner," a novel dealing with the problem of heredity, "The Guardian
Angel," "Songs of Many Seasons," "Memoirs of Motley and of Emerson," are
some of his many works, all of which have the impress of his bright,
engaging personality (1809-1894).
HOLOFERNES, the Assyrian general whom the Jewish Judith, entering
his camp as it invested her native place, slew with her own hand, and
bore his head as a trophy back to the town.
HOLSTEIN (560), which with Sleswick forms the Prussian province of
SLESWICK-HOLSTEIN (q. v.), was till 1866 a duchy of Denmark, but
in that year was annexed by Prussia.
HOLT, FRANK, artist, born in London; was distinguished as an artist
from his early youth; produced a succession of works of eminent merit,
and attained the highest excellence as a painter of portraits, to which
department he devoted the last years of his life (1815-1888).
HOLT, SIR JOHN, English lawyer, born at Thame, Oxfordshire; called
to the bar in 1663; was a prominent counsel in the State trials of his
age, and rose to be Lord Chief-Justice of the King's Bench under William
III., an office whose duties he discharged with unflinching integrity and
fairness (1642-1710).
HOLTZMANN, ADOLF, an eminent German philologist, born at Carlsruhe;
gave himself to the study of theology and then of philology at various
universities, and in 1852 became professor of the German Language and
Literature at Heidelberg; author of various learned treatises on
philology and kindred subjects (1810-1870).
HOLY ALLIANCE, an alliance of the sovereigns of Russia, Austria, and
Prussia on the fall of Napoleon, professedly for conservative ends, but
really for the suppression of political liberty and the maintenance of
absolute power.
HOLY COAT OF TREVES, a seamless coat alleged to have been deposited
there by the Empress Helena, and to have been the one worn by Christ.
HOLY FAIR, a rural celebration of the Communion once common in
Scotland, attended not only by the people of the parish, but by large
numbers of strangers from far and near; described by Burns.
HOLY ISLAND or LINDISFARNE, an islet of Northumberland, 91/2 m.
SE. of Berwick; is separated from the mainland by a stretch of sand bare
at low water, and some 3 m. broad; has interesting ruins of a Benedictine
priory church where ST. CUTHBERT (q. v.) once ministered; there
is a small village and fine old castle.
HOLY OFFICE, name given to the INQUISITION (q. v.).
HOLY WARS, name given to the CRUSADES (q. v.).
HOLY WEEK, the week before Easter, so called as consecrated to the
commemoration of the Passion of Christ in view of His death on the Cross.
HOLYHEAD (9), an important little seaport of Anglesey, North Wales,
on the N. side of an island of the same name, 25 m. W. of Bangor; is the
chief mail-packet station for Ireland, and has excellent harbourage, &c.
HOLYHEAD ISLAND (9), a rocky islet forming a part of Anglesey, from
which it is separated by a narrow strait, dry at low water, and crossed
by an arched causeway.
HOLYOAKE, GEORGE JACOB, an active propagandist of advanced social
theories, born at Birmingham; has lived a busy life as an agitator,
lecturing and writing; he espoused the cause of Garibaldi, edited the
_Reasoner_; was the last man to be imprisoned in England on a charge of
atheism (1841); was a zealous supporter of co-operation and all movements
making for the betterment of the social condition of the working-classes;
his numerous works embrace a valuable "History of Co-operation in
England," "The Limits of Atheism," "Sixty Years of an Agitator's Life,"
&c.; _b_. 1817.
HOLYOKE (45), a city of Massachusetts, 8 m. N. of Springfield, on
the Connecticut, whose rapid current supplies the water-power for the
many large paper-mills, cotton and woollen factories.
HOLYROOD, an abbey founded at Edinburgh in 1128 by David I., and
dedicated in honour of the Holy Cross, a casket of gold shaped like a
cross brought to the country by St. Margaret in 1070; a palace was
afterwards attached, which became the chief seat of the Scottish
sovereigns of the Stuart dynasty; the parks around were at one time a
sanctuary for debtors.
HOLYWELL (3), a market-town of Flintshire, has an elevated
situation, 15 m. NW. of Chester; the principal industry is the smelting
of lead, iron, copper, and zinc ores obtained from the surrounding mines;
the famous well of St. Winifred (whence the name of the town) is
over-built by a fine Perpendicular chapel.
HOMBURG (9), a fashionable watering-place in Hesse-Nassau, Prussia,
beautifully situated at the base of the Taunus Mountains, 8 m. NW. of
Frankfort-on-the-Main; has fine chalybeate and saline springs.
HOME, defined by Ruskin as "the place of Peace; the shelter not only
from all injury, but from all terror, doubt, and division. In so far as
it is not this, it is not home; so far as the anxieties of the outer
world penetrate into it, and the inconsistently-minded, unknown, unloved,
or hostile society, the outer world, is allowed by either husband or wife
to cross the threshold, it ceases to be home; it is then only a part of
the outer world which you have roofed over and lighted a fire in."
HOME, DANIEL DUNGLAS, a noted spiritualist, born near Edinburgh;
became widely known as a "medium," was presented at Courts and to the
Pope; was expelled from the Catholic Church for spiritualistic practices,
and latterly became involved in a lawsuit with a Mrs. Lyon, who had
bestowed upon him L60,000 and forced him to return it; he is supposed to
have suggested to Browning his well-known poem "Sludge--the Medium";
wrote several books (1833-1886).
HOME, JOHN, Scotch divine and dramatist, born at Leith; graduated at
Edinburgh, and entered the Church in 1745; became minister at
Athelstaneford, near Haddington, where he wrote the tragedies "Agis" and
"Douglas"; the latter established his fame, but brought him into disgrace
with the Presbytery, and he withdrew to England, becoming secretary to
the Earl of Bute; his plays were produced by Garrick, and displaced the
stiff and artificial tragedies of Addison, Johnson, &c.; besides his
dramatic works and poems he published a "History of the Rebellion of
1745" (1722-1808).
HOME RULE, a form of local self-government, a name applied to an
administration of the kind projected by Mr. Gladstone for Ireland.
HOMER, the great epic poet of Greece, and the greatest of all time;
author of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," and for the honour of being the
place of whose birth seven Greek cities contended; is said, when old and
blind, to have wandered from city to city rehearsing his verses, and to
have lived 900 years before Christ, some time after the reign of Solomon;
it is only modern criticism that has called in question his existence,
and has ventured to argue that the poems ascribed to him are a mere
congeries of compositions of the early fabulous age of Greece, but the
unity of the plan and the simplicity of the style of the poems go to
condemn this theory in the regard of most Homeric scholars.
HOMILDON HILL, in Northumberland, 1 m. NE. of Wooler; the scene of
Hotspur's famous victory over the Scots under Earl Douglas, December 14,
1402.
HOMOEOPATHY, a method of treating diseases advocated by
HAHNEMANN (q. v.) which professes to cure a disease by
administering in small quantities medicines that would produce it in a
healthy person.
HOMOIOUSIA, name given to the Semi-Arian doctrine that the Son is of
_like_ substance with the Father, in opposition to the orthodox doctrine
called Homoousia that He is of the _same_ substance.
HOMOLOGOUMENA, name given to the books of the New Testament accepted
as canonical.
HONDURAS (435), a maritime republic of Central America, whose
northern seaboard fronts the Gulf of Honduras in the Caribbean Sea,
between Nicaragua on the S. and SE. and Guatemala on the W., less than
four-fifths the size of England; the coast lands are low and swampy, but
the interior consists chiefly of elevated tableland diversified by broad
rich valleys; the Cordilleras traverse the country in a NW. direction,
and form the watershed of many streams; fever prevails along the low, hot
coast, but the highlands are cool and healthful; large numbers of cattle
are raised, and fruits, india-rubber, indigo, &c., are exported, but
agriculture is backward; its mineral wealth is very great; silver ore is
abundant, and other minerals, such as gold, iron, copper, but the
enterprise is wanting to the carrying out of mining on a proper scale;
Honduras broke away from Spain in 1821, and became an independent State
in 1839; the Government is vested in a President and six ministers, and
the legislative power in a Congress of 37 members; the population is,
with the exception of a few thousands, composed of blacks; Tegucigalpa
(12) is the capital.
HONE, WILLIAM, miscellaneous writer and political satirist, born at
Bath; threw up his position as a law clerk in London and started a print
and book shop; became a busy contributor to newspapers, and involved
himself in serious trouble by the freedom of his political parodies and
satires; of his many squibs, satires, &c., mention maybe made of "The
Political House that Jack Built," "The Queen's Matrimonial Ladder," "The
Political Showman," all illustrated by G. CRUIKSHANK (q. v.)
(1780-1842).
HONEYCOMB, WILL, a jaunty member of the "Spectator Club."
HONFLEUR (9), a seaport of France, situated on the estuary of the
Seine, opposite Havre; has a good harbour; exports dairy produce, cattle,
&c.; has sugar refineries, tanworks, &c.
HONG-KONG (222), an island lying off the mouth of the Canton River,
South China; was ceded to Britain in 1842; is hilly and unproductive, but
is well watered and tolerably healthy; it owes its great importance as a
commercial centre to its favourable position, its magnificent harbour,
and to its having been made a free port and the head-quarters of the
European banks; opium is the chief import, silk and tea the principal
exports; Victoria, a handsome city on the N. side, is the capital, seat
of the British governor, &c.
HONITON (3), an ancient market-town of Devonshire, close to the
Otter, 17 m. NE. of Exeter; is famed for its pillow-lace, an industry
introduced by some Flemish refugees in the 16th century.
HONOLULU (20), capital of the HAWAIIAN ISLANDS (q. v.),
situated on an arid strip of land on the S. side of Oahu; is nicely laid
out after the manner of a European town; and has the only good harbour in
the archipelago.
HONORIUS, the name of four popes: H. I., the most famous, Pope
from 626 to 638; H. II., pope from 1124 to 1130; H. III., Pope
from 1216 to 1227; and H. IV., Pope from 1286 to 1287.
HONORIUS, FLAVIUS, emperor of the West, born at Constantinople, son
of Theodosius the Great, a weak ruler, and only able to resist the
invasion of the Goths so long as Stilicho, his minister, lived, for after
the murder of the latter by treachery matters with him went from bad to
worse, and he saw some of his finest provinces snatched from his grasp
(384-423).
HONTHEIM, a German Catholic theologian, born at Treves;
distinguished for his bold assertion and subsequent retractation of a
doctrine called Febronianism, from the _nom de plume_ Febronius which he
assumed, tending to the disparagement of the Papal authority in the
Church (1701-1790).
HONTHORST, GERARD VAN, a Flemish painter, born at Utrecht, painted
night and torchlight scenes; "Christ before Pilate" his best-known work
(1592-1666).
HONVED`, name given in Hungary to the landwehr, or originally to any
distinguished national patriot or party.
HOOD, SAMUEL, VISCOUNT, a distinguished admiral, born at Thorncombe;
entered the navy in 1740, and rising rapidly in his profession evinced
high qualities as a leader; in 1782 he brilliantly outmanoeuvred De
Grasse in the West Indies, and under Rodney played a conspicuous part in
the destruction of the French fleet at the battle of Dominica, for which
he was rewarded with an Irish peerage; he defeated Fox in the celebrated
Westminster election, became a Lord of the Admiralty, and as commander of
the Mediterranean fleet during the revolutionary wars, captured the
French fleet at Toulon and reduced Corsica; in 1796 he was created a
viscount (1724-1816).
HOOD, THOMAS, poet and humourist, born in London; gave up business
and engraving, to which he first applied himself, for letters, and
commencing as a journalist, immortalised himself by the "Song of the
Shirt" and his "Dream of Eugene Aram"; edited the "Comic Annual," and
wrote "Whims and Oddities," in all of which he displayed both wit and
pathos (1798-1845).
HOOGHLY or HUGLI, 1, the most important and most westerly of
the several branches into which the Ganges divides on approaching the
sea, breaks away from the main channel near Santipur, and flowing in a
southerly direction past Calcutta, reaches the Bay of Bengal after a
course of 145 m.; navigation is rendered hazardous by the accumulating
and shifting silt; the "bore" rushes up with great rapidity, and attains
a height of 7 ft. 2, A city (33) on the western bank of the river, 25 m.
N. of Calcutta; is capital of a district, and has a college for English
and Asiatic literature.
HOOK, THEODORE, comic dramatist, born in London; wrote a number of
farces sparkling with wit and highly popular; appointed to be
Accountant-General of the Mauritius, came to grief for peculation by a
subordinate under his administration; solaced and supported himself after
his acquittal by writing novels (1788-1841).
HOOKE, ROBERT, natural philosopher, born at Freshwater, Isle of
Wight; was associated with Boyle in the construction of the air-pump, and
in 1665 became professor of Geometry in Gresham College, London; was a
man of remarkable inventiveness, and quick to deduce natural laws from
meagre premises; thus he in some important points anticipated Newton's
theory of gravitation, and foresaw the application of steam to machinery;
he discovered amongst other things the balance-spring of watches, the
anchor-escapement of clocks, the simplest theory of the arch, and made
Back to Full Books
|