PREFACE. (continued 6)

Hectors, street bullies. Since the Restoration, we have had a succession of street brawlers, as the Muns, the Tityre Tus, the Hectors, the Scourers, the Nickers, the Hawcabites, and, lastly, the Mohawks, worst of them all.

Heeltap (Crispin), a cobbler, and one of the corporation of Garratt, of which Jerry Sneak is chosen mayor,—S. Foote, The Mayor of Garratt (1763).

Heep (Uriah), a detestable sneak, who is everlastingly forcing on one’s attention that he is so ’umble. Uriah is Mr. Wickfield’s clerk, and, with all his ostentatious ’umility, is most designing, malignant, and intermeddling. His infamy is dragged to light by Mr. Micawber.

Herr Piper, “representative in New Swedeland of the Great Gustavus, the bulwark of the Protestant Religion,” and a mighty stickler for forms and ceremonies appertaining to the office.—James Kirke Paulding, Königsmarke (1823).

Heidelberg (Mrs.), the widow of a wealthy Dutch merchant, who kept her brother’s house (Mr. Sterling, a city merchant). She was very vulgar, and “knowing the strength of her purse, domineered on the credit of it.” Mrs. Heidelberg had most exalted notions “of the quality,” and a “perfect contempt for everything that did not smack of high life.” Her English was certainly faulty, as the following specimens will show:—farden, wolgar, spurrit, pertest, Swish, kivers, purliteness, etc. She spoke of a pictur by Raphael-Angelo, a po-shay, dish-abille, parfect naturals [idiots], most genteelest, and so on. When thwarted in her overbearing ways, she threatened to leave the house and go to Holland to live with her husband’s cousin, Mr. Vanderspracken.—Colman and Garrick, The Clandestine Marriage (1766).

Heimdall (2 syl.), in Celtic mythology, was the son of nine virgin sisters. He dwelt in the celestial Fort Himinsbiorg, under the extremity of the rainbow. His ear was so acute that he could hear “the wool grow on the sheep’s back, and the grass in the meadows.” Heimdall was the watch or sentinel of Asgard (Olympus), and even in his sleep was able to see everything that happened (See Fine-ear).

Heimdall’s Horn. At the end of the world, Heimdall will wake the gods with his horn, when they will be attacked by 155Muspell, Loki, the wolf Fenris, and the serpent Jormunsgandar.

And much he talked of...

And Heimdal’s horn and the day of doom.

Longfellow, The Wayside Inn (interlude, 1631).

Heinrich (Poor), or “Poor Henry,” the hero and title of a poem by Hartmann von der Aue [Our]. Heinrich was a rich nobleman, struck with leprosy, and was told he would never recover till some virgin of spotless purity volunteeredvolunteered to die on his behalf. As Heinrich neither hoped nor even wished for such a sacrifice, he gave the main part of his possessions to the poor, and went to live with a poor tenant farmer, who was one of his vassals. The daughter of this farmer heard by accident on what the cure of the leper depended, and went to Salerno to offer herself as the victim. No sooner was the offer made than the lord was cured, and the damsel became his wife (twelfth century).

⁂ This tale forms the subject of Longfellow’s Golden Legend (1851).

Heir-at-Law. Baron Dubeley being dead, his “heir-at-law” was Henry Morland, supposed to be drowned at sea, and the next heir was Daniel Dowlas, a chandler of Gosport. Scarcely had Daniel been raised to his new dignity, when Henry Morland, who had been cast on Cape Breton, made his appearance, and the whole aspect of affairs was changed. That Dowlas might still live in comfort, suitable to his limited ambition, the heir of the barony settled on him a small life annuity.—G. Colman, Heir-at-law, (1797).

Hel´a, queen of the dead. She is daughter of Loki and Angurbo´da (a giantess). Her abode, called Helheim, was a vast castle in Niflheim, in the midst of eternal snow and darkness.

Down the yawning steep he rode,

That leads to Hela’s drear abode.

Gray, Descent of Odin (1757).

Helen, wife of Menelāos of Sparta. She eloped with Paris, a Trojan prince, while he was the guest of the Spartan king. Menelaos, to avenge this wrong, induced the allied armies of Greece to invest Troy; and after a siege of ten years, the city was taken and burnt to the ground.

⁂ A parallel incident occurred in Ireland. Dervorghal, wife of Tiernan O’Ruark, an Irish chief who held the county of Leitrim, eloped with Dermod M’Murchad, prince of Leinster. Tiernan induced O’Connor, king of Connaught, to avenge this wrong. So O’Connor drove Dermod from his throne. Dermod applied to Henry II. of England, and this was the incident which brought about the conquest of Ireland (1172).—Leland, History of Ireland (1773).

Helen, the heroine of Miss Edgeworth’s novel of the same name. This was her last and most popular tale (1834).

Helen, cousin of Modus, the bookworm. She loved her cousin, and taught him there was a better “art of love” than that written by Ovid.—S. Knowles, The Hunchback (1831).

Helen Lorrington. Accomplished young widow, Anne Douglas’s intimate friend. She is the semi-betrothed of Ward Heathcote, who nevertheless considers himself free to woo Anne. After many complications, Heathcote, believing Anne already married becomes Helen’s husband. The latter is murdered a year or two later 156under circumstances that cast suspicion upon Heathcote. Through Anne’s efforts and testimony he is acquittedacquitted, and finally marries her.—Constance Fennimore Woolson, Anne (1882).

Helen (Lady), in love with Sir Edward Mortimer. Her uncle insulted Sir Edward in a county assembly, struck him down, and trampled on him. Sir Edward, returning home, encountered the drunken ruffian and murdered him. He was tried for the crime, and acquitted “without a stain upon his character;” but the knowledge of the deed preyed upon his mind so that he could not marry the niece of the murdered man. After leading a life of utter wretchedness, Sir Edward told Helen that he was the murderer of her uncle, and died.—G. Colman, The Iron Chest (1796).

Helen [Mowbray], in love with Walsingham. “Of all grace the pattern—person, feature, mind, heart, everything as nature had essayed to frame a work where none could find a flaw.” Allured by Lord Athunree to a house of ill-fame, under pretence of doing a work of charity, she was seen by Walsingham as she came out, and he abandoned her as a wanton. She then assumed male attire, with the name of Eustace. Walsingham became her friend, was told that Eustace was Helen’s brother, and finally discovered that Eustace was Helen herself. The mystery being cleared up, they became man and wife.—S. Knowles, Woman’s Wit, etc. (1838).

Helen’s Fire (feu d’Hélène), a comazant called “St. Helme’s” or “St. Elmo’s fire” by the Spaniards; the “fires of St. Peter and St. Nicholas” by the Italians; and “Castor and Pollux” by the ancient Romans. This electric light will sometimes play about the masts of ships. If only one appears, foul weather may be looked for; but if two or more flames appear, the worst of the storm is over.

Helen (Rolleston), heroine of Charles Reade’s novel, Foul Play. She is betrothed to Wardlaw, chief villain of the story, and sets out on a sea-voyage to restore her health; is shipwrecked and cast on an island with Herbert Penfold. After their return to England, she rights the wronged Penfold, and punishes Wardlaw.

Helen, wife of John Ward, Preacher. Her husband is a Calvinist of a pronounced type; she a believer in Universal Salvation. The spiritual agonies to which they are subjected by the difference in creeds, separate them for a while and are the moving cause of John Ward’s death. He passes away, convinced that “his death is to be the climax of God’s plans for her.”—Margaret Deland, John Ward, Preacher (1888).

Hel´ena (St.), daughter of Coel, duke Colchester, and afterwards king of Britain. She married Constantius (a Roman senator, who succeeded “Old King Cole”), and became the mother of Constantine the Great. Constantius died at York (a.d. 306). Helena is said to have discovered at Jerusalem the sepulchre and cross of Jesus Christ.—Geoffrey, British History v. 6 (1142).

⁂ This legend is told of the Colchester arms, which consist of a cross and three crowns (two atop and one at the foot of the cross).

At a considerable depth beneath the surface of the earth were found three crosses which were instantly recognized as those on which Christ and the two thieves had suffered death. 157To ascertain which was the true cross, a female corpse was placed on all three alternately; the two first tried produced no effect, but the third instantly reanimated the body.—J. Brady, Clavis Calendaria, 181.

Herself in person went to seek that holy cross

Whereon our Saviour died, which found, as it was sought;

From Salem unto Rome triumphantly she brought.

Drayton, Polyolbion, viii. (1612).

Helena, only daughter of Gerard de Narbon, the physician. She was left under the charge of the countess of Rousillon, whose son Bertram she fell in love with. The king sent for Bertram to the palace, and Helena, hearing the king was ill, obtained permission of the countess to give him a prescription left by her late father. The medicine cured the king, and the king, in gratitude, promised to make her the wife of any one of his courtiers that she chose. Helena selected Bertram, and they were married; but the haughty count, hating the alliance, left France, to join the army of the duke of Florence. Helena, in the mean time, started on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Jacques le Grand, carrying with her a letter from her husband, stating that he would never see her more “till she could get the ring from off his finger.” On her way to the shrine, she lodged at Florence with a widow, the mother of Diana, with whom Bertram was wantonly in love. Helena was permitted to pass herself off as Diana, and received his visits, in one of which they exchanged rings. Both soon after this returned to the Countess de Rousillon, where the king was, and the king, seeing on Bertram’s finger the ring which he gave to Helena, had him arrested on suspicion of murder. Helena now explained the matter, and all was well, for all ended well.—Shakespeare, All’s Well that ends Well (1598).

Helena is a young woman, seeking a man in marriage. The ordinary laws of courtship are reversed, the habitual feelings are violated; yet with such exquisiteexquisite address this dangerous subject is handled that Helena’s forwardness loses her no honor. Delicacy dispenses with her laws in her favor.—C. Lamb.

Helena, a young Athenian lady, in love with Demētrius. She was the playmate of Her´mia, with whom she grew up, as “two cherries on one stalk.”stalk.” Egēus (3 syl.), the father of Hermia, promised his daughter in marriage to Demetrius; but when Demetrius saw that Hermia loved Lysander, he turned to Helena, who loved him dearly, and married her.—Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream (1592).

Hel´inore (Dame), wife of Malbecco, who was jealous of her, and not without cause. When Sir Paridel, Sir Sat´yrane (3 syl.), and Britomart (as the squire of Dames) took refuge in Malbecco’s house, Dame Helinore and Sir Paridel had many “false belgardes” at each other, and talked love with glances which needed no interpreter. Helinore, having set fire to the closet where Malbecco kept his treasures, eloped with Paridel, while the old miser stopped to put out the fire. Paridel soon tired of the dame, and cast her off, leaving her to roam whither she listed. She was taken up by the satyrs, who made her their dairy-woman, and crowned her queen of the May.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. 9, 10 (1590).

Viridi colore est gemma helitropion, non ita acuto sed nubilo magis et represso, stellis puniceis superspersa. Causa nominis de effectu lapidis est et potestate. Dejecta in labris æneis radios solis mutat sanguineo repercussu, utraque aqua splendorem aëris abjicit et avertit. Etiam illud posse dicitur, ut herba ejusdem nominis mixta et præcantationibus legitimis consecrata eum, a quocunque gestabitur, subtrahat visibus obviorum.—Solinus, Geog., xl.

158Helisane de Crenne, contemporary with Pâquier. She wrote her own biography, including the “history of her own death.”—Angoisses Doloureuses (Lyons, 1546).

Hel Keplein, a mantle of invisibility, belonging to the dwarf-king Laurin. (See Invisibility.)—The Heldenbuch (thirteenth century).

Hell, according to Mohammedan belief is divided into seven compartments: (1) for Mohammedans, (2) for Jews, (3) for Christians, (4) for Sabians,Sabians, (5) for Magians, (6) for idolaters, (7) for hypocrites. All but idolaters and unbelievers will be in time released from torment.

Hell, Dantê says, is a vast funnel divided into eight circles, with ledges more or less rugged. Each circle, of course, is narrower that the one above, and the last goes down to the very centre of the earth. Before the circles begin, there is a neutral land and a limbo. In the neutral land wander those not bad enough for hell nor good enough for heaven; in the limbo, those who knew no sin but were not baptized Christians. Coming then to hell proper, circle 1, he says, is compassed by the river Achĕron, and in this division of inferno dwell the spirits of the heathen philosophers. Circle 2 is presided over by Minos, and here are the spirits of those guilty of carnal and sinful love. Circle 3 is guarded by Cerbĕrus, and this is the region set apart for gluttons. Circle 4, presided over by Plutus, is the realm of the avaricious. Circle 5 contains the Stygian Lake, and here flounder in deep mud those who in life put no restraint on their anger. Circle 6 (in the city of Dis) is for those who did violence to man by force or fraud. Circle 7 (in the city of Dis) is for suicides. Circle 8 (also in the city of Dis) is for blasphemers and heretics. After the eight circles comes the ten pits or chasms of Malebolgê (4 syl.), the last of which is the centre of the earth, and here he says is the frozen river of Cocy´tus. (See Inferno.)

Hellespont. Leander used to swim across the Hellespont to visit Hero, a priestess of Sestos. Lord Byron and Lieutenant Ekenhead repeated the feat and accomplished it in seventy minutes, the distance being four miles (allowing for drifting).

He could perhaps have passed the Hellespont,

As once (a feat on which ourselves we prided)

Leander, Mr. Ekenhead, and I did.

Byron, Don Juan, ii. 105 (1819).

Hellica´nus, the able and honest minister of Per´iclês, to whom he left the charge of Tyre during his absence. Being offered the crown, Hellicānus nobly declined the offer, and remained faithful to the prince throughout.—Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608).

Helmet of Invisibility. The helmet of Perseus (2 syl.) rendered the wearer invisible. This was in reality the “Helmet of Ha´dès,” and after Perseus had slain Medu´sa he restored it, together with the winged sandals and magic wallet. The “gorgon’s head” he presented to Minerva, who placed it in the middle of her ægis. (See Invisibility.)

⁂ Mambrīno’s helmet had the same magical power, though Don Quixote, even in his midsummer madness, never thought himself invisible when he donned the barber’s basin.

Heloise. La Nouvelle Héloïse, a romance by Jean Jacques Rousseau (1761).

159He´mera, sister of Prince Memnon, mentioned by Dictys Cretensis. Milton, in his Il Penseroso, speaks of “Prince Memnon’s sister” (1638).

Hem´junah, princess of Cassimir´, daughter of the Sultan Zebene´zer; betrothed at the age of 13 to the prince of Georgia. As Hemjunah had never seen the prince, she ran away to avoid a forced marriage, and was changed by Ulin, the enchanter, into a toad. In this form she became acquainted with Misnar, sultan of India, who had likewise been transformed into a toad by Ulin. Misnar was disenchanted by a dervise, and slew Ulin; whereupon the princess recovered her proper shape, and returned home. A rebellion broke out in Cassimir, but the “angel of death” destroyed the rebel army, and Zebenezer was restored to his throne. His surprise was unbounded when he found that the prince of Georgia and the sultan of India were one and the same person; and Hemjunah said, “Be assured, O Sultan, that I shall not refuse the hand of the prince of Georgia, even if my father commands my obedience.”—Sir C. Morell [J. Ridly] Tales of the Genii (“Princess of Cassimir,” vii., 1751).

Hemlock. Socratês the Wise and Phocion the Good were both by the Athenians condemned to death by hemlock juice, Socratês at the age of 70 (B.C. 399) and Phocion at the age of 85 (B.C. 317).

Hemps´kirke (2 syl.), a captain serving under Wolfort, the usurper of the earldom of Flanders.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Beggar’s Bush (1622).

Henderson (Rodney syl.), representative American who makes money by unscrupulous operations in stocks.—Charles Dudley Warner, A Little Journey in the World (1889).

Henderson (Elias) syl., chaplain at Lochleven Castle.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).

Henneberg (Count syl.). One day a beggar-woman asked Count Henneberg’s wife for alms. The countess twitted her for carrying twins, whereupon the woman cursed her, with the assurance that “her ladyship should be the mother of 365 children.” The legend says that the countess bore them at one birth, but none of them lived any length of time. All the girls were named Elizabeth, and all the boys John. They are buried, we are told, at the Hague.

Henrietta Maria, widow of King Charles I., introduced in Sir W. Scott’s Peveril of the Peak (1823).

Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square, London, is so called in compliment to Henrietta Cavendish, daughter of John Holles, duke of Newcastle, and wife of Edward, second earl of Oxford and Mortimer. From these come “Edward Street,” “Henrietta Street,” “Cavendish Square,” and “Holles Street.”

Henriette (3 syl.), daughter of Chrysale (2 syl.) and Philaminte (3 syl.). She is in love with Clitandre, and ultimately becomes his wife. Philaminte, who is a blue-stocking, wants Henriette to marry Trissotin, a bel esprit; and Armande the sister, also a bas bleu, thinks that Henriette ought to devote her life to science and philosophy; but Henriette loves woman’s work far better, and thinks that her 160natural province is domestic life, with wifely and motherly duties. Her father Chrysale takes the same views of woman’s life as his daughter Henriette, but he is quite under the thumb of his strong-minded wife. However love at last prevails, and Henriette is given in marriage to the man of her choice. The French call Henriette “the type of a perfect woman,” i.e., a thorough woman.—Molière, Les Femmes Savantes (1672).

Henrique (Don), an uxorious lord, cruel to his younger brother Don Jamie. Don Henrique is the father of Asca´nio, and the supposed husband of Violan´te (4 syl.).—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Spanish Curate (1622).

Henri, boy, four years old, who, finding his friend “the doctor” bound naked to a trestle to which he was strapped by pirates, follows his directions and gnaws asunder the strips of raw hide tying the victim down, and frees him.—Henry Augustus Wise, U.S.N., Captain Brand of the Schooner Centipede (1864).

Henry, a soldier engaged to Louisa. Some rumors of gallantry to Henry’s disadvantage having reached the village, he is told that Louisa is about to be married to another. In his despair he gives himself up as a deserter, and is condemned to death. Louisa now goes to the king, explains to him the whole matter, obtains her sweetheart’s pardon, and reaches the jail just as the muffled drum begins to beat the death march.—Dibdin, The Deserter (1770).

Henry, son of Sir Philip Blandford’s brother. Both the brothers loved the same lady, but the younger marrying her, Sir Philip, in his rage, stabbed him, as it was thought, mortally. In due time, the young “widow” had a son (Henry) a very high-minded, chivalrous young man, greatly beloved by every one. After twenty years, his father re-appeared under the name of Morrington, and Henry married his cousin Emma Blandford.—Thom. Morton, Speed the Plough (1798).

Henry (Poor), prince of Hoheneck, in Bavaria. Being struck with leprosy, he quitted his lordly castle, gave largely to the poor, and retired to live with a small cottage farmer named Gottlieb [Got.leeb], one of his vassals. He was told that he would never be cured till a virgin, chaste and spotless, offered to die on his behalf. Elsie, the farmer’s daughter, offered herself, and after great resistance, the prince accompanied her to Salerno to complete the sacrifice. When he arrived at the city, either the exercise, the excitement, or the charm of some relic, no matter what, had effected an entire cure, and when he took Elsie into the cathedral, the only sacrifice she had to make was that of her maiden name for Lady Alicia, wife of Prince Henry of Hoheneck.—Hartmann von der Aue (minnesinger), Poor Henry (twelfth century).

⁂ This tale is the subject of Longfellow’s Golden Legend (1851).

Henry (Patrick), Virginian orator, who, in the House of Burgesses, first raised the cry of “Liberty or Death” in the struggle of the American Colonies for Independence.

Patrick Henry’s first legal triumph was in November, 1763, in the since famous Parson’s Cause.

“In the language of those who heard him on this occasion, ‘he made their blood run cold, and their hair to rise on end ...’”

161“The jury seem to have been so completely bewildered, that, thoughtless even of the admitted right of the plaintiff, they had scarcely left the bar when they returned with a verdict of one penny damages.”—William Wirt, Life of Patrick Henry (1818).

Henry (Prince), Bernardine du Born, arraigned for treason, replies to King Henry’s questions,

“Hath reason quite forsook thy breast?”

with

“My reason failed, my gracious liege,

The year Prince Henry died.”

The king, smitten by memories of his son, whose chosen intimate Bernardine was, forgives the offender:—

“For the dear sake of the dead

Go forth—unscathed and free.”

Lydia Huntley Sigourney, Poems (1836).

Henry II., king of England, introduced by Sir W. Scott, both in The Betrothed and in The Talisman (1825).

Henry V., Shakespeare’s drama, founded on The Famous Victories of Henry V.: containing the Honorable Battle of Agincourt. As it is plaide by the Queenes Magesties players, 1598. Shakespeare’s play appeared in print in 1600 (quarto).

Henry VI., Shakespeare’s dramas of this reign are founded on The First Part of the Contention betwixt the two Famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster, with the Death of the Good Duke Humphrey, etc. As it was sundry times acted by the Right Honorable the Earle of Pembroke his Servants, 1600.

Another. The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke, and the Death of Good Henri VI., etc. As it was sundry times acted ... (as above).

Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII. He divorced Katharine of Aragon in order to marry Anne; wearied of her in turn, and had her beheaded in 1536.

He´par, the Liver personified, the arch-city in The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher. Fully described in canto iii. (1633).

Hephæs´tos, the Greek name for Vulcan. The Vulcanic period of geology is that unknown period before the creation of man, when the molten granite and buried metals were upheaved by internal heat, through the overlying strata, sometimes even to the very surface of the earth.

The early dawn and dusk of Time.

The reign of dateless old Hephæstus.

Longfellow, The Golden Legend (1851).

Hepzibah (Pyncheon), gentlewoman, reduced to the necessity of keeping a small shop in the ancient homestead. She idolizes her brother Clifford, a melancholy, refined man, who, terrified by an empty threat of his cousin, Judge Pyncheon, flees the house. Hepzibah goes with him. Recovering from their panic, they return in time to avoid the suspicion of having caused the Judge’s sudden death, which makes them rich.—Nathaniel Hawthorne, House of the Seven Gables (1851).

Herbert (Sir William), friend of Sir Hugo de Lacy.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Her´culês shot Nessus for offering insult to his wife Dei´-j-a-nī-ra, and the dying centaur told Deijanira that if she dipped in his blood her husband’s shirt, she would secure his love forever. Herculês, being 162about to offer sacrifice, sent Lichas for the shirt; but no sooner was it warmed by the heat of his body than it caused such excruciating agony that the hero went mad, and seizing Lichas, he flung him into the sea.

Herculés Mad is the subject of a Greek tragedy by Eurip´idês, and of a Latin one by Sen´eca.

As when Alcīdês ... felt the envenomed robe, and tore,

Thro’ pain, up by the roots Thessalian pines,

And Lichas from the top of Œta [a mount] threw

Into the Euboic Sea [The Archipelago].

Milton, Paradise Lost, ii. 542, etc. [1665].

⁂ Diodōrus says there were three Herculêses; Cicero recognizes six (three of which were Greeks, one Egyptian, one Cretan, and one Indian); Varro says there were forty-three.

Herculés’s Choice. When Herculês was a young man, he was accosted by two women, Pleasure and Virtue, and asked to choose which he would follow. Pleasure promised him all carnal delights, but Virtue promised him immortality. Herculês gave his hand to the latter, and hence led a life of great toil, but was ultimately received amongst the immortals.—Xenophon.

⁂ Mrs. Barbauld has borrowed this allegory, but instead of Herculês has substituted Melissa, “a young girl,” who is accosted by Dissipation and Housewifery. While she is somewhat in doubt which to follow, Dissipation’s mask falls off, and immediately Melissa beholds such a “wan and ghastly countenance,” that she turns away in horror, and gives her hand to the more sober of the two ladies.—Evenings at Home, xix. (1795).

Herculês’s Horse, Arion, given him by Adrastos. It had the gift of human speech, and its feet on the right side were those of a man.

Herculês’s Pillars, Calpê and Ab´yla, one at Gibraltar and the other at Ceuta (3 syl.). They were torn asunder by Alcīdês on his route to Gadês (Cadiz).

Herculês’s Ports: (1) “Herculis Corsani Portus” (now called Porto-Ercolo, in Etruria); (2) “Herculis Liburni Portus” (now called Livorno, i.e. Leghorn); (3) “Herculis Monœci-Portus” (now called Monaco, near Nice).

Herculês (The Attic), Theseus (2 syl.), who went about, like Herculês, destroying robbers, and performing most wonderful exploits.

Herculês (The Cretan). All the three Idæan Dactyls were so called: viz., Kelmis (“the smelter”), Damnamĕneus (“the hammer”), and Acmon (“the anvil”).

Herculês (The Egyptian), Sesostris (fl. B.C. 1500). Another was Som or Chon, called by Pausanias, Macĕris, son of Amon.

Herculês (The English), Guy, earl of Warwick (890-958).

Warwick ... thou English Herculês.

Drayton, Polyolbion, xiii. (1613).

Herculês (The Farnesê), a statue, the work of Glykon, copied from one by Lysip´pos, called Farnesê, because formerly in the Farnesê palace in Rome with the Farnesê Bull, the Flora, and the Gladiator. All but the Gladiator are now in the Naples Museum. The Gladiator is in the British Museum. The “Farnesê Herculês” represents the hero exhausted by toil, leaning on his club; and in his left 163hand, which rests on his back, he holds one of the apples of the Hesperĭdês.

⁂ A copy of this famous statue stands in the Tuileries gardens of Paris. An excellent description of the statue is given by Thomson, in his Liberty, iv.

Herculês (The Indian), Dorsănês, who married Pandæa, and became the progenitor of the Indian kings. Belus is sometimes called “The Indian Herculês.”

Herculês (The Jewish), Samson (died B.C. 113).

Herculês (The Russian), Rustum.

Herculês (The Swedish), Starchatĕrus (first Christian century).

Hercules of Music, Christoph von Glück (1714-1787).

Herculês Secundus. Commŏdus, the Roman emperor, gave himself this title. He was a gigantic idiot, who killed 100 lions, and overthrew 1000 gladiators in the amphitheatre (161, 180-195).

Heren-Suge (The), a seven-headed hydra of Basque mythology, like the Deccan cobras.

Heretics (Hammer of), Pierre d’Ailly (1350-1425).

John Faber is also called “The Hammer of Heretics,” from the title of one of his works (*-1541).

Heretics (Scientific).

Feargal, bishop of Saltzburg, an Irishman, was denounced as a heretic for asserting the existence of antipodês (*-784).

Galileo, the astronomer, was cast into prison for maintaining the “heretical opinion” that the earth moved round the sun (1564-1642).(1564-1642).

Giordano Bruno was burnt alive for maintainingmaintaining that matter is the mother of all things (1550-1600).

Her´eward (3 syl.), one of the Varangian guard of Alexius Comnēnus, emperor of Greece.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Hereward the Wake (or Vigilant), lord of Born, in Lincolnshire. He plundered and burnt the abbey of Peterborough (1070); established his camp in the Isle of Ely, where he was joined by Earl Morcar (1071); he was blockaded for three months by William I., but made his escape with some of his followers. This is the name and subject of one of Kingsley’s novels.

Her´iot (Master George), goldsmith to James I.; guardian of Lady Hermionê.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Herman, a deaf and dumb boy, jailer of the dungeon of the Giant’s Mount. Meeting Ulrica, he tries to seize her, when a flash of lightning strikes the bridge on which he stands, and Herman is thrown into the torrent.—E. Stirling, The Prisoner of State (1847).

Herman (Sir), of Goodalicke, one of the perceptors of the Knights Templars.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Hermann, the hero of Goethe’s poem Hermann and Dorothea. Goethe tells us that the object of this poem is to “show“show as in a mirror, the great movements and changes of the world’s stage.”

Hermaph´rodite (4 syl.), son of Venus 164and Mercury. At the age of 15, he bathed in a fountain of Caria, when Sal´macis, the fountain nymph, fell in love with him, and prayed the gods to make the two one body. Her prayers being heard, the two became united into one, but still preserved the double sex.

Not that bright spring where fair Hermaphrodite

Grew into one with wanton Salmacis ...

... may dare compare with this.

Phin. Fletcher, The Purple Island, v. (1633).

Hermegild or Hermyngyld, wife of the lord-constable of Northumberland. She was converted by Constance, but was murdered by a knight whose suit had been rejected by the young guest, in order to bring her into trouble. The villainy being discovered, the knight was executed, and Constance married the king, whose name was Alla. Hermegild, at the bidding of Constance, restored sight to a blind Briton.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (“Man of Law’s Tale,” 1388).

(The word is spelt “Custaunce” 7 times, “Constance” 15 times, and “Constaunce” 17 times, in the tale.)tale.)

Hermegild, a friend of Oswald, in love with Gartha (Oswald’s sister). He was a man in the middle age of life, of counsel sage, and great prudence. When Hubert (the brother of Oswald) and Gartha wished to stir up a civil war to avenge the death of Oswald, who had been slain in single combat with Prince Gondibert, Hermegild wisely deterred them from the rash attempt, and diverted the anger of the camp by funeral obsequies of a most imposing character. The tale of Gondibert being unfinished, the sequel is not known.—Sir W. Davenant, Gondibert (died 1668).

Her´mês (2 syl.), son of Maia; patron of commerce. Akenside makes Hermês say to the Thames, referring to the merchant ships of England:

By you [ships] my function and my honored name

Do I possess; while o’er the Bætic vale,

Or thro’ the towers of Memphis, or the palms

By sacred Ganges watered, I conduct

The English merchant.

Akenside, Hymn to the Naiads (1767).

(The Bætis is the Guadalquiver, and the Bætic vale Granāda and Andalucia).

Her´mês (2 syl.), the same as Mercury, and applied both to the god and to the metal. Milton calls quicksilver “volatil Hermês.”

So when we see the liquid metal fall,

Which chemists by the name of Hermes call.

Hoole’s Ariosto, viii.

Hermês (St.), same as St. Elmo, Suerpo Santo, Castor and Pollux, etc. A comazant or electric light, seen occasionally on ship’s masts.

“They shall see the fire which saylors call St. Hermes, fly uppon their shippe, and alight upon the toppe of the mast.”—De Loier, Treatise of Spectres, 67 (1605).

Hermês Trismegis´tus (Hermês “thrice-greatest”“thrice-greatest”), the Egyptian Thoth, to whom is ascribed a host of inventions: as the art of writing in hieroglyphics, the first Egyptian code of laws, the art of harmony, the science of astrology, the invention of the late and lyre, magic, etc. (twentieth century B.C.).

The school of Hermês Trismegistus,

Who uttered his oracles sublime

Before the Olympiads.

Longfellow, The Golden Legend (1851).

Her´mesind (3 syl.), daughter of Pelayo and Gaudio´sê. She was plighted to Alphonso, son of Lord Pedro of Cantabria. Both Alphonso and Hermesind at death 165were buried in the cave of St. Antony, in Covadonga.

Her´mia, daughter of Ege´us (3 syl.) of Athens, and promised by him in marriage to Demētrius. As Hermia loved Lysander, and refused to marry Demetrius, her father summoned her before the duke, and requested that the “law of the land” might be carried out, which was death or perpetual virginity. The duke gave Hermia four days to consider the subject, at the expiration of which time she was either to obey her father or lose her life. She now fled from Athens with Lysander. Demetrius went in pursuit of her, and Helĕna, who doted on Demetrius, followed. All four came to a wood, and falling asleep from weariness, had a dream about the fairies. When Demetrius woke up, he came to his senses, and seeing that Hermia loved another, consented to marry Helena; and Egēus gladly gave the hand of his daughter to Lysander.—Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream (1592).

Herm´ion, the young wife of Damon “the Pythagore´an” and senator of Syracuse.—J. Banium, Damon and Pythias (1825).

Hermionê (4 syl.) or Harmo´nia, wife of Cadmus. Leaving Thebes, Cadmus and his wife went to Illyr´ia, and were both changed into serpents for having killed a serpent sacred to Mars.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, iv. 590, etc.

Never since of serpent-kind

Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed—

Hermionê and Cadmus.

Milton, Paradise Lost, ix. 505, etc. (1665).

Hermionê, (4 syl.), wife of Leontês, king of Sicily. The king, being jealous, sent her to prison, where she gave birth to a daughter, who, at the king’s command, was to be placed on a desert shore and left to perish. The child was driven by a storm to the “coast” of Bohemia, and brought up by a shepherd who called her Per´dĭta. Florĭzel, the son of Polixenês, king of Bohemia, fell in love with her, and they fled to Sicily to escape the vengeance of the angry king. Being introduced to Leontês, it was soon discovered that Perdita was his lost daughter, and Polixenês gladly consented to the union he had before objected to. Pauli´na (a lady about the court) now asked the royal party to her house to inspect a statue of Hermionê, which turned out to be the living queen herself.—Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale (1594).

Hermionê, (4 syl.), only daughter of Helen and Menelā´os (4 syl.) king of Sparta. She was betrothed to Orestês, but after the fall of Troy was promised by her father in marriage to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. Orestes madly loved her, but Hermione as madly loved Pyrrhus. When Pyrrhus fixed his affections on Androm´achê (widow of Hector, and his captive), the pride and jealousy of Hermione were roused. At this crisis, an embassy led by Orestês arrived at the court of Pyrrhus, to demand the death of Asty´anax, the son of Andromachê and Hector, lest when he grew to manhood he might seek to avenge his father’s death. Pyrrhus declined to give up the boy, and married Andromachê. The passion of Hermionê was now goaded to madness; and when she heard that the Greek ambassadors had fallen on Pyrrhus and murdered him, she stabbed herself and died.—Ambrose Philips, The Distressed Mother (1712).

This was a famous part with Mrs. Porter (*-1762), and with Miss Young, better known as Mrs. Pope (1740-1797).

166Hermionê (4 syl.), daughter of Dannischemend, the Persian sorcerer, mentioned in Donnerhugel’s narrative.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Hermionê (The Lady), or Lady Ermin´ia Pauletti, privately married to Lord Dalgarno.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Hermit, the pseudonym of the poet Hayley, the friend of Cowper.

Hermit (The English), Roger Crab, who subsisted on three farthings a week, his food being bran, herbs, roots, dock leaves, and mallows (*-1680).

Hermit (Peter the), the instigator of the first crusade (1050-1115).

Hermit and the Youth (The). A hermit, desirous to study the ways of Providence, met with a youth, who became his companion. The first night, they were most hospitably entertained by a nobleman, but at parting the young man stole his entertainer’s golden goblet. Next day, they obtained with difficulty of a miser shelter from a severe storm, and at parting the youth gave him the golden goblet. Next night, they were modestly but freely welcomed by one of the middle class, and at parting the youth “crept to the cradle where an infant slept, and wrung its neck.” It was the only child of their kind host. Leaving the hospitable roof, they lost their way, and were set right by a guide, whom the youth pushed into a river, and he was drowned. The hermit began to curse the youth, when lo! he turned into an angel, who thus explained his acts:

“I stole the goblet from the rich lord to teach him not to trust in uncertain riches. I gave the goblet to the miser to teach him that kindness always meets its reward. I strangled the infant because the man loved it better than he loved God. I pushed the guide into the river because he intended at night-fall to commit a robbery.” The hermit bent his head and cried, “The ways of the Lord are past finding out! but He doeth all things well. Teach me to say with faith, ‘Thy will be done?’”—Parnell. (1679-1717).

In the Talmud is a similar and better allegory. Rabbi Jachanan accompanied Elijah on a journey, and they came to the house of a poor man, whose only treasure was a cow. The man and his wife ran to meet and welcome the strangers, but next morning the poor man’s cow died. Next night they were coldly received by a proud, rich man, who fed them only with bread and water; and next morning Elijah sent for a mason to repair a wall which was falling down, in return for the hospitality received. Next night they entered a synagogue, and asked, “Who will give a night’s lodging to two travellers!” but none offered to do so. At parting, Elijah said, “I hope you will all be made presidents.” The following night they were lodged by the members of another synagogue in the best hotel of the place, and at parting Elijah said, “May the Lord appoint over you but one president.” The rabbi, unable to keep silence any longer, begged Elijah to explain the meaning of his dealings with men; and Elijah replied:

“In regard to the poor man who received us so hospitably, it was decreed that his wife was to die that night, but, in reward of his kindness, God took the cow instead of the wife. I repaired the wall of the rich miser because a chest of gold was concealed near the place, and if the miser had repaired the wall he would have discovered the treasure. I said to the inhospitable synagogue, ‘May each member be president,’ because no one can serve two masters. I said to the hospitable synagogue, ‘May‘May you have but one president,’ because with one head there can 167be no divisions of counsel. Say not, therefore, to the Lord, ‘What doest Thou?’ but say in thy heart, ‘Must not the Lord of all the earth do right’”—The Talmud (“Trust in God”).

Hermite (Tristan l’) or “Tristan of the Hospital,” provost-marshal of France. He was the main instrument in carrying out the nefarious schemes of Louis XI, who used to call him his “gossip.” Tristan was a stout, middle-sized man, with a hang-dog visage and most repulsive smile.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward and Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Hero, daughter of Leonāto, governor of Messi´na. She was of a quiet, serious disposition, and formed a good contrast to the gay, witty rattle-pate, called Beatrice, her cousin. Hero was about to be married to Lord Claudio, when Don John played on her a most infamous practical joke, out of malice. He bribed Hero’s waiting-woman to dress in Hero’s clothes, and to talk with him by moonlight from the chamber balcony; he then induced Claudio to hide himself in the garden, to overhear what was said. Claudio, thinking the person to be Hero, was furious, and next day at the altar rejected the bride with scorn. The priest, convinced of Hero’s innocence, gave out that she was dead, the servant confessed the trick, Don John took to flight, and Hero married Claudio, her betrothed.—Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing (1600).

Hero, [Sutton], niece of Sir William Sutton, and beloved by Sir Valentine de Grey. Hero “was fair as no eye ever fairer saw, of noble stature, head of antique mould, magnificent as far as may consist with softness, features full of thought and moods, wishes and fancies, and limbs the paragon of symmetry.” Having offended her lover by waltzing with Lord Athunree, she assumed the garb of a quakeress, called herself “Ruth,” and got introduced to Sir Valentine, who proposed marriage to her, and then discovered that Hero was Ruth and Ruth was Hero.—S. Knowles, Woman’s Wit, etc. (1838).

Hero and Leander (3 syl.). Hero, a priestess of Venus, fell in love with Leander, who swam across the Hellespont every night to visit her. One night he was drowned in so doing, and Hero in grief threw herself into the same sea.—Musæus, Leander and Hero.

Hero of Fable (The), the duc de Guise. Called by the French L’Hero de la Fable (1614-1664).

Hero of History (The), the duc d’Enghien, Prince of Condé. Called by the French L’Hero de l’Histoire. This was Le grand Condé (1621-1687).

Hero of Modern Italy, Garibaldi (1807-1882).

Herodias. Divorced wife of Herodius Philippus, afterward married to Herod Antipas, Mother of Salome and murderer of John the Baptist.

Her´on (Sir George), of Chip-chace, an officer with Sir John Foster.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).

Heros´tratos or Erostratos, the Ephesian who set fire to the temple of Ephesus (one of the seven wonders of the world) merely to immortalize his name. The Ephesians made it penal even to mention his name.

168Herostratus shall prove vice governes fame.

Who built that church he burnt hath lost his name.

Lord Brooke, Inquisition upon Fame (1554-1628).

Herrick. Overseer on a Virginia plantation, whose only daughter is burned to death trying to save a favorite horse of the man she loves hopelessly.—Amelia C. Rives-Chanler, Virginia of Virginia, (1888).

Herries (Lord), a friend of Queen Mary of Scotland, and attending on her at Dundrennan.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbott (time, Elizabeth).

Herschel (Sir F. Wm.) discovered the eighth planet, at first called the Georgium sidus, in honor of George III., and now called Saturn. In allusion to this, Campbell says he

Gave the lyre of heaven another string.

Pleasures of Hope, i. (1799.)

Hertford (The marquis of), in the court of Charles II.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Her Trippa, meant for Henry Cornelius Agrippa, of Nettesheim, philosopher and physician. “Her” is a contraction of He´ricus, and “Trippa” a play on the words Agrippa and tripe.—Rabelais, Pantag´ruel, iii. 25 (1545).

Herwig, king of Hel´igoland, betrothed to Gudrun, daughter of King Hettel (Attila). She was carried off by Hartmuth, king of Norway, and as she refused to marry him, was put to the most menial work. Herwig conveyed an army into Norway, utterly defeated Hartmuth, liberated Gudrun, and married her.—Gudrun, a German epic of the thirteenth century.

Her´zog (Duke), commander-in-chief of the ancient Teutons (Germans). The herzog was elected by the freemen of the tribe, but in times of war and danger, when several tribes united, the princes selected a leader, who was called also “herzog,” similiar to the Gaulish “brennus” or “bren,” and the Celtic “pendragon” or head chief.

Heskett (Ralph), landlord of the village ale-house where Robin Oig and Harry Wakefield fought.

Dame Heskett, Ralph’s wife.—Sir. W. Scott, The Two Drovers (time, George III.).

Hesper´ides (4 syl.) The Hesper´ian Field. The Hesperidês were the women who guarded the golden apples which Earth gave to Herê at her marriage with Zeus (Jove). They were assisted by the dragon Ladon. The Hesperian Fields are the orchards in which the golden apples grew. The Island is one of the Cape Verd Isles, in the Atlantic.

Hesperus, the knight called by Tennyson “Evening Star;” but called in the History of Prince Arthur, “the Green Knight” or Sir Pertolope (3 syl.). One of the four brothers who kept the passages of Castle Perilous.—Tennyson, Idylls (“Gareth and Lynette”); Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 127 (1470).

⁂ It is a manifest blunder to call the Green Knight “Hesperus the Evening Star,” and the Blue Knight the “Morning Star.” The old romance makes the combat with the “Green Knight” at dawn, and with the “Blue Knight” at sunset. 169The error has arisen from not bearing in mind that our forefathers began the day with the preceding eve, and ended it at sunset.

Hetherford (Reuben), stupid suitor of Molly Wilder. He will not relinquish her, although assured that she is to marry another man, and when the news comes that her husband has been drowned, renews his suit, only to be again rejected.—Jane Goodwin Austin, A Nameless Nobleman (1881).

Hettly (May), an old servant of Davie Deans.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Heyward (Duncan). A major in the English army in America, sent to escort the Munro sisters to their father, and sharer in the perils incurred by them in their journey by stream and forest. He is beloved by both sisters and marries Alice.—James Fennimore Cooper, Last of the Mohicans.

Heukbane (Mrs.), the butcher’s wife at Fairport, and a friend of Mrs. Mailsetter.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Hew, son of Lady Helen of “Merryland town” (Milan), enticed by an apple presented to him by a Jewish maiden, who then “stabbed him with a penknife, rolled the body in lead, and cast it into a well.” Lady Helen went in search of her child, and its ghost cried out from the bottom of the well:

The lead is wondrous heavy, mither;

The well is wondrous deep:

A keen penknife sticks in my heart;

A word I dounae speik.

Percy, Reliques, i. 3.

Hewit (Godfrey Bertram), natural son of Mr. Godfrey Betram.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Hezekiah Grumbles, intended by nature for a farmer; intended by parents for a clergyman; makes a soldier of himself in the Civil War 1861-65.—William M. Baker, The Making of a Man (1881).

Hezekiah Bedott, easy-going, meek and slow-spoken husband of Priscilla Bedott. “Wonderful hand to moralize, specially after he begun to enjoy poor health.”—Frances Miriam Twitcher, The Widow Bedott Papers (1856).

Hiawa´tha, the prophet teacher, son of Mudjekee´wis (the west wind) and Weno´nah, daughter of Noko´mis. He represents the progress of civilization among the North American Indians. Hiawatha first wrestled with Monda´min (maize), and, having subdued it, gave it to man for food. He then taught man navigation; then he subdued Mishe Nah´ma (the sturgeon), and taught the Indians how to make oil therefrom for winter. His next exploit was against the magician Megissog´non, the author of disease and death; having slain this monster, he taught man the science of medicine. He then married Minneha´ha (laughing water), and taught man to be the husband of one wife, and the comforts of domestic peace. Lastly, he taught man picture-writing. When the white men came with the gospel, Hiawatha ascended to the kingdom of Pone´mah, the land of the hereafter.—Longfellow, Hiawatha.

Hiawatha’s Moc´casins. When Hiawatha put on his moccasins, he could measure a mile at a single stride.

He had moccasins enchanted,

Magic moccasins of deer-skin;

When he bound them round his ankles

At each stride a mile he measured.

Longfellow, Hiawatha, iv.

170Hiawatha’s Great Friends, Chibia´bos (the sweetest of all musicians) and Kwa´sind (the strongest of all mortals).—Longfellow, Hiawatha, vi.

Hick´athrift (Tom or Jack), a poor laborer in the time of the Conquest, of such enormous strength that he killed, with an axletree and cartwheel, a huge giant, who lived in a marsh at Tylney, in Norfolk. He was knighted, and made governor of Thanet. Hickathrift is sometimes called Hickafric.

When a man sits down to write a history, though it be but the history of Jack Hickathrift, ... he knows no more than his heels what lets ... he is to meet with in his way.—Sterne.

Hick´ory (Old), General Andrew Jackson. He was first called “Tough,” then “Tough as Hickory,Hickory,” and, lastly, “Old Hickory.” Another story is that in 1813, when engaged in war with the Creek Indians, he fell short of supplies, and fed his men on hickory nuts (1767-1845).

Hicks, short, slight young man ... with an air at once amiable and baddish, whose father sends him on a sea-voyage to cure him of drunkenness.—William Dean Howells, The Lady of the Aroostook (1879).

Hi´erocles (4 syl.), the first person who compiled jokes and bon mots. After a life-long labor, he got together twenty-one, which he left to the world as his legacy. Hence arose the phrase, An Hieroc´lean legacy, no legacy at all, or a legacy of empty promises, or a legacy of no worth.

One of his anecdotes is that of a man who wanted to sell his house, and carried about a brick to show as a specimen of it.

Hieron´imo, the chief character of Thomas Kyd’s drama in two parts, pt. i. being called Hieronimo, and pt. ii. The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo is Mad Again. In the latter play, Horatio, only son of Hieronimo, sitting with Belimpe´ria in an alcove, is murdered by his rival, Balthazar, and the lady’s brother, Lorenzo. The murderers hang the dead body on a tree in the garden, and Hieronimo, aroused by the screams of Belimperia, rushing into the garden, sees the dead body of his son, and goes raving mad (1588).

Higden (Mrs. Betty), an old woman nearly four score, very poor, but hating the union-house more than she feared death. Betty Higden kept a mangle, and “minded young children” at four-pence a week. A poor workhouse lad named Sloppy helped her to turn the mangle. Mrs. Boffin wished to adopt Johnny, Betty’s infant grandchild, but he died in the Children’s Hospital.

She was one of those old women, was Mrs. Betty Higden, who, by dint of an indomitable purpose and a strong constitution, fight out many years; an active old woman, with a bright dark eye and a resolute face, yet quite a tender creature, too.—C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, i. 16 (1864).

Higg, “the son of Snell,” the lame witness at the trial of Rebecca.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Higgen, Prigg, Snapp, and Ferret, knavish beggars in The Beggar’s Bush, a drama by Beaumont and Fletcher (1622).

High and Low Heels, two factions in Lilliput. So called from the high and low heels of their shoes, badges of the two factions. The high heels (tories and the high-church party) were friendly to the ancient constitution of the empire, but the emperor employed the Low-heels (whigs and low-churchmen) as his ministers 171of state.—Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (“Lilliput,” 1726).

High Life Below Stairs, a farce by the Rev. James Townley. Mr. Lovel, a wealthy commoner, suspects his servants of “wasting his substance in riotous living;” so, pretending to go to his country seat in Devonshire, he assumes the character of a country bumpkin from Essex, and places himself under the charge of his own butler, to learn the duties of a gentleman servant. As the master is away, Philip (the butler) invites a large party to supper, and supplies them with the choicest wines. The servants all assume their masters’ titles, and address each other as “My lord duke,” “Sir Harry,” “My Lady Charlotte,” “My Lady Bab,” etc., and mimic the airs of their employers. In the midst of the banquet, Lovel appears in his true character, breaks up the party, and dismisses his household, retaining only one of the lot, named Tom, to whom he entrusts the charge of the silver and plate (1759).

Highland Mary, immortalized by Robert Burns, is generally thought to be Mary Campbell; but it seems more likely to be Mary Morison, “one of the poet’s youthful loves.” Probably the songs, Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary? Highland Mary, Mary Morison, and To Mary in Heaven, were all written on one and the same Mary, although some think Highland Mary and Mary in Heaven refer to Mary Campbell, who, we are told, was the poet’s first love.

Highwaymen (Noted).

Claude Duval (*-1670). Introduced in White Friars, by Miss Robinson.

James Whitney (1660-1594), aged 34.

Jonathan Wild of Wolverhampton (1682-1725), aged 43. Hero and title of a novel by Fielding (1744).

Jack Sheppard of Spitalfields (1701-1724), aged 24. Hero and title of a novel by Defoe (1724); and of one by H. Ainsworth (1839).

Dick Turpin, executed at York (1711-1739). Hero of a novel by H. Ainsworth.

Galloping Dick, executed at Aylesbury in 1800.

Captain Grant, the Irish highwayman, executed at Maryborough, in 1816.

Samuel Greenwood, executed at Old Bailey, 1822.

William Rea, executed at Old Bailey, 1828.

Hilda. Art student in Rome, beloved by Kenyon, another artist, and friend of Miriam. Hilda is the accidental witness of the homicide committed by Donatello, and the horror of the secret drives her almost mad.—Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun.

Hilda. Wife of Herluf, who has excited his father—the “Judge’s” wrath. The old man strikes his son while Hilda’s arms are about her husband, and Herluf, maddened, leaves home and wife for America. Letters from New York tell his father of his successes there, and he at last begs Hilda to bring him home. She obeys, and the two men embrace with tears.—Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen, A Child of the Age (1889).

Hilda’s Little Hood. Tale of a scarlet hood (with a pretty face within it) that won a man’s heart.—Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen’s Idylls of Norway (1882).

Hilarius (Brother), refectioner at St. Mary’s.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).

172Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII. (1013, 1073-1085). He demanded for the Church the right of “investiture” or presentation to all ecclesiastical benefices, the superiority of the ecclesiastical to the temporal authority, enforced the celibacy of all clergymen, resisted simony, and greatly advanced the domination of the popes.

We need another Hildebrand to shake

And purify us.

Longfellow, The Golden Legend (1851).

Hil´debrand (Meister), the Nestor of German romance, a magician and champion.

⁂ Maugis, among the paladins of Charlemagne, sustained a similar twofold character.

Hil´debrod (Jacob, duke), president of the Alsatian Club.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Hil´desheim. The monk of HildesheimHildesheim, doubting how a thousand years with God could be “only one day,” listened to the melody of a bird in a green wood, as he supposed, for only three minutes, but found that he had in reality been listening to it for a hundred years.

Hill (Dr. John), whose pseudonym was “Mrs. Glasse.” Garrick said of him:

For physic and farces,

His equal there scarce is.

For his farces are physic, and his physic a farce is.

Hil´lary (Tom), apprentice of Mr. Lawford, the town clerk. Afterwards Captain Hillary.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon’s Daughter (time, George II.).

Hinch´up (Dame), a peasant, at the execution of Meg Murdockson.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Hin´da, daughter of Al Hassan, the Arabian emir of Persia. Her lover, Hafed, a gheber or fire-worshipper, was the sworn enemy of the emir. Al Hassan sent Hinda away, but she was taken captive by Hafed’s party. Hafed, being betrayed to Al Hassan, burnt himself to death in the sacred fire, and Hinda cast herself headlong into the sea.—T. Moore, Lalla Rookh (“The Fire-Worshippers,” 1817).

Hinzelmann, the most famous house-spirit or kobold of German legend. He lived four years in the old castle of Hudemühlen, and then disappeared for ever (1588).

Hippol´ito. So Browning spells the name of the son of Theseus (2 syl.) and An´tiopê. Hippolito fled all intercourse with woman. Phædra, his mother-in-law, tried to seduce him, and when he resisted her solicitations, accused him to her husband of attempting to dishonor her. After death he was restored to life under the name of Virbius (vir-bis, “twice a man”). (See Hippolytos).

Hippolito, a youth who never knew a woman.

Browning.

Hippol´yta, queen of the Am´azons, and daughter of Mars. She was famous for a girdle given her by the war-god, which Herculês had to obtain possession of as one of his twelve labors.

⁂ Shakespeare has introduced Hippolyta in his Midsummer Night’s Dream, and betroths her to TheseusTheseus (2 syl.) duke of Athens; but according to classic fable, it was her sister An´tiopê (4 syl.) who married Theseus.

173Hippolyta, a rich lady wantonly in love with Arnoldo. By the cross purposes of the plot, Leopold, a sea-captain, is enamoured of Hippolyta, Arnoldo is contracted to the chaste Zeno´cia, and Zenocia is dishonorably pursued by the Governor Count Clo´dio.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country (1647).

Hippolytos (in Latin, Hippolytus), son of Theseus. He provoked the anger of Venus by disregarding her love, and Venus, in revenge, made Phædra (his mother-in-law) fall in love with him, and when Hippolytos repulsed her advances, she accused him to her husband of seeking to dishonor her. Theseus prayed Neptune to punish the young man, and the sea-god, while the young man was driving in his chariot, scared the horses with sea-calves. Hippolytos was thrown from the chariot and killed, but Diana restored him to life again. (See Hippolito.)

Hippolytus himself would leave Diana

To follow such a Venus.

Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts, iii. 1 (1628).

Hippom´enes (4 syl.), a Grecian prince who outstripped Atalanta in a foot-race, by dropping three golden apples, which she stopped to pick up. By this conquest he won Atalanta to wife.

E’en here, in this region of wonders, I find

That light-footed Fancy leaves Truth far behind;

Or, at least, like Hippomenês, turns her astray

By the golden illusions he flings in her way.

T. Moore.

Hippot´ades (4 syl.), Eŏlus, the wind-god, son of Hippota.

[He] questioned every gust of rugged winds

That blows from off each beaked promontory:

They knew not of his story;

And sage Hippotadês, their answer brings,

That not a blast was from his dungeon strayed.

Milton, Lycidas (1638).

Hiren, a strumpet. From Peele’s play The Turkish Mahomet and Hyren the Fair Greek (1584).

In Italian called a courtezan; in Spain a margarite; in French une putaine; in English...a punk.

“There be Sirens in the sea of the world. Syrens? Hirens, as they are now called. What a number of these sirens [Hirens], cockatrices, courteghians, in plain English, harlots, swimme amongst us!”—Adams, Spiritual Navigator (1615).

Hiroux (Jean), the French “Bill Sikes,” with all the tragic elements eliminated.

Pres. Where do you live? Jean. Haven’t got any.

Pres. Where were you born? Jean. At Galard.

Pres. Where is that? Jean. At Galard.

Pres. What department? Jean. Galard.

Henri Monnier, Popular Scenes drawn with Pen and Ink (1825).

Hislop (John), the old carrier at Old St. Ronan’s.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well (time, George III.).

Histor´icus, the nom de plume of the Hon. E. Vernon Harcourt, for many years the most slashing writer in the Saturday Review, and a writer in the Times.

History (Father of). Herod´otos, the Greek historian, is so called by Cicero (B.C. 484-408).

History (Father of Ecclesiastical), Polygnotos of Thaos (fl. B. C. 463-435). The Venerable Bede is so called sometimes (672-735).

History (Father of French), Andre Duchesne (1584-1640).

Histrio-mastix, a tirade against theatrical 174exhibitions, by William Prynne (1632).

Ho´amen, an Indian tribe settled on a south branch of the Missouri, having Az´tlan for their imperial city. The Az´tecas conquered the tribe, deposed the queen, and seized their territory by right of conquest. When Madoc landed on the American shore, he took the part of the Hoamen, and succeeded in restoring them to their rights. The Aztecas then migrated to Mexico (twelfth century).—Southey, Madoc (1805).

Hob Miller of Twyford, an insurgent.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Hob or Happer, miller at St. Mary’s Convent.

Mysie Happer, the miller’s daughter. She marries Sir Piercie Shafton.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).

Hob´bididance (4 syl.), the prince of dumbness, and one of the five fiends that possessed “poor Tom.”—Shakespeare, King Lear, act iv. sc. 1 (1605).

⁂ This name is taken from Harsnett’s Declaration of Egregious Popish-Impostures (1561-1631).

Hobbie O’Sorbie´trees, one of the huntsmen near Charlie’s Hope farm.—Sir. W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.)

Hob´bima (The English), John Crome, of Norwich, whose last words were: “O Hobbima, Hobbima, how I do love thee!” (1769-1821).

Hob´bima (The Scotch), P. Nasmyth (1831- ).

⁂ Minderhout Hobbima, a famous landscape painter of Amsterdam (1638-1709).

Hobbinol. (See Hobinol).

Hobbler or Clopinel, Jehan de Meung, the French poet, who was lame (1260-1320). Meung was called by his contemporaries Père de l’Eloquence.

⁂ Tyrtæus, the Greek elegiac poet, was called “Hobbler” because he introduced the alternate pentameter verse, which is one foot shorter than the old heroic metre.

Hobbler (The Rev. Dr.), at Ellieslaw Castle, one of the Jacobite conspirators with the laird of Ellieslaw.—Sir W. Scott The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).

Hobby-horse (The), one of the masquers at Kennaquhair Abbey.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time Elizabeth).

Hobinol or Hobbinol is Gabriel Harvey, physician, LL.D., a friend and college chum of Edmund Spenser, the poet. Spenser, in his ecl. iv., makes Thenot inquire, “What gars thee to weep?” and Hobinol replies it is because his friend Colin, having been flouted by Rosalind (ecl. i.), has broken his pipe and seems heart-broken with grief. Thenot then begs Hobinol to sing to him one of Colin’s own songs, and Hobinol sings the lay of “Elisa, queen of the shepherds” (Queen Elizabeth), daughter of Syrinx and Pan (Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII.). He says Phœbus thrust out his golden head to gaze on her, and was amazed to see a sun on earth brighter and more dazzling than his own. The Graces requested she might make a fourth grace, and she was received amongst them and reigned with them in heaven. The shepherds then strewed flowers to the queen, and Elisa dismissed 175them, saying that at the proper season she would reward them with ripe damsons (ecl. iv.) Ecl. ix. is a dialogue between Hobinol and Diggon Davie, upon Popish abuses. (See Diggon Davie).—Spenser, Shephearde’s Calendar (1572.)

Hobnel´ia, a shepherdess, in love with Lubberkin, who disregarded her. She tried by spells to win his love, and after every spell she said:

With my sharp heel I three times mark the ground,

And turn me thrice around, around, around.

Gay, Pastoral, iv. (1717).

Hob´son (Thomas), a carrier who lived at Cambridge in the seventeenth century. He kept a livery stable, but obliged the university students to take his hacks in rotation. Hence the term Hobson’s choice came to signify “this or none.” Milton (in 1660) wrote two humorous poems on the death of the old carrier.

Hochspring´en (The young duke of), introduced in Donnerhugel’s narrative.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Hocus (Humphry), “the attorney” into whose hands John Bull and his friends put the law-suit they carried on against Lewis Baboon (Louis XIV.). Of course, Humphry Hocus is John Churchill, duke of Mariborough, who commanded the army employed against the Grand Monarque.

Hocus was an old cunning attorney; and though this was the first considerable suit he was ever engaged in, he showed himself superior in address to most of his profession. He always kept good clerks. He loved money, was smooth-tongued, gave good words, and seldom lost his temper.... He provided plentifully for his family; but he loved himself better than them all. The neighbors reported that he was henpecked, which was impossible by such a mild-spirited woman as his wife was [his wife was a desperate termagant].—Dr. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, v. (1712).

Hodei´rah (3 syl.), husband of Zei´nab (2 syl.) and father of Thalaba. He died while Thalaba was a mere lad.—Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer, i. (1797).

Hodeken (i.e. little hat), a German kobold or domestic fairy, noted for his little felt hat.

Hö´der, the Scandinavian god of darkness, typical of night. He is called the blind old god. Balder is the god of light, typical of day. According to fable Höder killed Balder with an arrow made of mistletoe, but the gods restored him to life again.

Höder, the blind old god,

Whose feet are shod with silence.

Longfellow, Tegner’s Death.

Hodge, Gammer Gurton’s goodman, whose breeches she was repairing when she lost her needle.—Mr. S., Master of Arts, Gammer Gurton’s Needle (1551).

⁂ Mr. S. is said to be J. Still, afterwards bishop of Bath and Wells, but in 1551 he was only eight years old.

Hodges (John), one of Waverley’s servants.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Hodges (Joe), landlord of Bertram, by the lake near Merwyn Hall.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Hodge´son (Gaffer), a puritan.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Hoel (2 syl.), king of the Armorican Britons, and nephew of King Arthur. Hoel sent an army of 15,000 men to assist his uncle against the Saxons (501). In 509, being driven from his kingdom by 176Clovis, he took refuge in England; but in 513 he recovered his throne, and died in 545.

[Arthur], calling to his aid

His kinsman Howel, brought from Brittany, the less,

Their armies they unite.... [and conquer the Saxons at Lincoln].

Drayton, Polyolbion, iv. (1612).

Ho´el, son of Prince Hoel and Lla´ian. Prince Hoel was slain in battle by his half-brother David, king of North Wales, and Llaian, with her son, followed the fortunes of Prince Madoc, who migrated to North America. Young Hoel was kidnapped by Ocell´opan, an Az´tec, and carried to Az´tlan for a propitiatory sacrifice to the Aztecan gods. He was confined in a cavern without food; but Co´atel, a young Aztecan wife, took pity on him, visited him, supplied him with food, and assisted Madoc to release him.—Southey, Madoc (1805).

Ho´garth (William), called “The Juvenal of Painters” (1695-1764).

Hogarth (The Scottish), David Allan (1744-1796).

Hogarth of Novelists, Henry Fielding (1707-1754).

Hold´enough (Master Nehemiah), a Presbyterian preacher, ejected from his pulpit by a military preacher.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Holgrave, daguerreotypist, who rents a room from Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon, falls in love with and marries Phœbe Pyncheon.—Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables (1851).

Holiday (Erasmus), schoolmaster in the Vale of Whitehorse.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).

Holipher´nes (4 syl.), called “English Henry,” one of the Christian knights in the allied army of Godfrey, in the first crusade. He was slain by Dragu´tês (3 syl.). (See Holophernes).—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, ix. (1575).

Hollingsworth. Big, one-ideaed philanthropist, and a leader in the Blithedale farm project. “He had taught his benevolence to pour its warm tide exclusively through one channel, so that there was nothing to spare for other great manifestations of love to man, nor scarcely for the nutriment of individual attachments, unless they could minister, in some way, to the terrible egotism which he mistook for an angel of God.”

He is beloved by Zenobia, and gives what love he can spare from himself and his Idea to weak, silly Priscilla.—Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance (1852).

Holman (Lieutenant James), the blind traveller (1787-1857).

Hol´opherne (Thubal), the great sophister, who, in the course of five years and three months, taught Gargantua to say his ABC backwards.—Rabelais, Gargantua, i. 14 (1533).

Holopher´nes (4 syl.). a pedantic schoolmaster, who speaks like a dictionary. The character is meant for John Florio, a teacher of Italian in London, who published, in 1598, a dictionary called A World of Words. He provoked the retort by condemning wholesale the English dramas, which, he said, were “neither right comedies nor right tragedies, but perverted histories without decorum.” The following 177sentence is a specimen of the style in which Shakespeare caricatured his style:

The deer was...in sanguis (blood), ripe as a pomewater who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of cœlo (the sky, the welkin, the heaven); and anon falleth like a crab on the face of terra (the soil, the land, the earth).—Shakespeare, Love’s Labor’s Lost, act iv. sc. 2 (1594).

⁂ Holophernes is an imperfect anagram of “Joh´nes Florio,” the first and last letters being omitted, F=ph.

Holt (Felix). A collarless radical who sets a neighborhood by the ears, and stultifies himself by wooing a gentlewoman.—George Eliot, Felix Holt (Radical).

Holy Bottle (The Oracle of the), the object of Pantag´ruel’s search. He visited various lands with his friend Panurge (2 syl.), the last place being the island of Lantern-land, where the “bottle” was kept in an alabaster fount in a magnificent temple. When the party arrived at the sacred spot, the priestess threw something into the fount; whereupon the water began to bubble, and the word “Drink” issued from the “bottle.” So the whole party set to drinking Falernian wine, and, being inspired with drunkenness, raved with prophetic madness; and so the romance ends.—Rabelais, Pantagruel (1545).

Like Pantagruel and his companions in quest of the “Oracle of the Bottle.”—Sterne.

Holy Brotherhood (The), in Spain called Santa Hermandad, was an association for the suppression of highway robbery.

The thieves,...believing the Holy Brotherhood was coming...got up in a hurry, and alarmed their companions.—Lesage, Gil Blas, i. 6 (1715).

Holy Maid of Kent, Elizabeth Barton, who incited the Roman Catholics to resist the progress of the Reformation, and pretended to act under divine inspiration. She was executed in 1534 for “predicting” that the king (Henry VIII.) would die a sudden death if he divorced Queen Katharine and married Anne Boleyn. At one time she was thought to be inspired with a prophetic gift, and even the lord chancellor, Sir Thomas More, was inclined to think so.

Home, Sweet Home. The words of this popular song are by John Howard Payne, an American. It is introduced in his melodrama called Clari, or The Maid of Milan. The music is by Sir Henry Bishop, and was originally sung in 1823 by Miss M. Tree.

Homer (The British). Milton is so called on Gray’s monument in Westminster Abbey.

No more the Grecian muse unrivalled reigns;

To Britain let the nations homage pay:

She felt a Homer’s fire in Milton’s strains,

A Pindar’s rapture in the lyre of Gray.

Homer (The Casket), an edition of Homer corrected by Aristotle, which Alexander the Great carried about with him, and placed in the golden casket richly studded with gems, found in the tent of Darīus. Alexander said there was but one thing in the world worthy to be kept in so precious a casket, and that was Aristotle’s Homer.

Homer (The Celtic), Ossian, son of Fingal, king of Morven.

Homer (The Oriental), Ferdusi, the Persian poet, who wrote the Shâh Nâmeh, or history of the Persian kings. It contains 120,000 verses, and was the work of thirty years (940-1020).

Homer (The Prose). Henry Fielding, 178the novelist, is called by Byron “The Prose Homer of Human Nature” (1707-1764).

Homer (The Scottish), William Wilkie, author of The Epigon´iad (1721-1772).

Homer of our Dramatic Poets (The). So Shakespeare is called by Dryden (1564-1616).

Shakespeare was the Homer or father of our dramatic poets; Jonson was the Virgil. I admire rare Ben, but I love Shakespeare.—Dryden.

Homer of Ferra´ra (The). Ariosto was called by Tasso, Omero Ferraresê (1474-1533).

Homer of the Franks (The), Angilbert was so called by Charlemagne (died 814).

Homer of the French Drama (The). Pierre Corneille was so called by Sir Walter Scott (1606-1684).

Homer of Philosophers (The), Plato (B. C. 429-347).

Homer the Younger, Philiscos, one of the seven Pleiad poets of Alexandria, in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphos.

Homeric Characters.

Agamemnon, haughty and imperious; Achilles, brave, impatient of command, and relentless; Diomed, brave as Achilles, but obedient to authority; Ajax the Greater, a giant in stature, fool-hardy, arrogant, and conceited; Nestor, a sage old man, garrulous on the glories of his youthful days; Ulysses, wise, crafty, and arrogant; Patroclos, a gentle friend; Thersites, a scurrilous demagogue.

Hector, the protector and father of his country, a brave soldier, an affectionate husband, a wise counsellor, and a model prince; Sarpedon, the favorite of the gods, gallant and generous; Paris, a gallant and a fop; Troilus, “the prince of chivalry;” Priam, a broken-spirited old monarch.

Helen, a heartless beauty, faithless, and fond of pleasure; Androm´achê, a fond young mother and affectionate wife; Cassandra, a querulous, croaking prophetess; Hecuba, an old she-bear robbed of her whelps.

Homespun (Zekiel), a farmer of Castleton. Being turned out of his farm, he goes to London to seek his fortune. Though quite illiterate, he has warm affections, noble principles, and a most ingenious mind. Zekiel wins £20,000 by a lottery ticket, bought by his deceased father.

Cicely Homespun, sister of Zekiel, betrothed to Dick Dowlas (for a short time the Hon. Dick Dowlas). When Cicely went to London with her brother, she took a situation with Caroline Dormer. Miss Dormer married “the heir-at-law” of Baron Duberly, and Cicely married Dick Dowlas.—G. Colman, The Heir-at Law (1797).

Hominy (Mrs.), philosopher and authoress, wife of Major Hominy, and “mother of the modern Gracchi,” as she called her daughter, who lived at New Thermopylæ, three days this side of “Eden,” in America. Mrs. Hominy was considered by her countrymen a “very choice spirit.”—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).

Homo Sum. A story by George Ebers, telling of the life, temptations, and victories of certain anchorites living on Mt. Sinai.

Honest George. General George 179Monk, duke of Albemarle, was so called by the Cromwellites (1608-1670).

Honest Man. Diogenês, being asked one day what he was searching for so diligently that he needed the light of a lantern in broad day, replied, “An honest man.”

Searched with lantern-light to find an honest man.

Southey, Roderick, etc., xxi. (1814).

Still will he hold his lantern up to scan

The face of monarchs for an honest man.

Byron, Age of Bronze, x. (1821).

Honest Thieves (The). The “thieves” are Ruth and Arabella, two heiresses, brought up by Justice Day, trustee of the estates of Ruth and guardian of Arabella. The two girls wish to marry Colonel Careless and Captain Manly, but do not know how to get possession of their property, which is in the hands of Justice Day. It so happens that Day goes to pay a visit, and the two girls, finding the key of his strong box, help themselves to the deeds, etc., to which they are respectively entitled. Mrs. Day, on her return, accuses them of robbery; but Manly says, “Madam, they have taken nothing but what is their own. They are honest thieves, I assure you.”—T. Knight (a farce).

⁂ This is a mere rifacimento of The Committee (1670), by the Hon. Sir R. Howard. Most of the names are identical, but “Captain Manly” is substituted for Colonel Blunt.

Honey. Glaucus, son of Minos, was smothered in a cask of honey.

Honeycomb (Will), a fine gentleman, the great authority on the fashions of the day. He was one of the members of the imaginary club from which the Spectator issued.—The Spectator (1711-1713).

Honeycombe (Mr.), the uxorious husband of Mrs. Honeycombe, and father of Polly. Self-willed, passionate, and tyrannical. He thinks to bully Polly out of her love-nonsense, and by locking her in her chamber to keep her safe, forgetting that “love laughs at locksmiths,” and “where there’s a will there’s a way.”

Mrs. Honeycombe, the dram-drinking, maudling, foolish wife of Mr. Honeycombe, always ogling him, calling him “lovey,” “sweeting,” or “dearie,” but generally muzzy, and obfuscated with cordials or other messes.

Polly Honeycombe, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Honeycombe; educated by novels, and as full of romance as Don Quixote. Mr. Ledger, a stock broker, pays his addresses to her; but she hates him, and determines to elope with Mr. Scribble, an attorney’s clerk, and nephew of her nurse. This folly, however, is happily interrupted.—G. Colman, the elder, Polly Honeycombe (1760).

Honeyman (Charles), a free-and-easy clergyman, of social habits and fluent speech,—Thackeray, The Newcomes (1855).

Honeymoon (The), a comedy by J. Tobin (1804). The general scheme resembles that of the Taming of the Shrew, viz., breaking-in an unruly colt of high mettle to the harness of wifely life. The duke of Aranza marries the proud, overbearing, but beautiful Juliana, eldest daughter of Balthazar. After marriage, he takes her to a mean hut, and pretends he is only a peasant, who must work for his daily bread, and that his wife must do the household drudgery. He acts with great gentleness and affection; and by the end of the month, Juliana, being thoroughly reformed, is introduced to the castle, where she finds that her husband after all is the 180duke, and that she is the duchess of Aranza. It is an excellent and well written comedy.

Honeywood, “the good-natured man,” whose property is made the prey of swindlers. His uncle, Sir William Honeywood, in order to rescue him from sharpers, causes him to be seized for a bill to which he has lent his name “to a friend who absconded.” By this arrest the young man is taught to discriminate between real friends and designing knaves. Honeywood dotes on Miss Richland, but fancies she loves Mr. Lofty, and therefore forbears to avow his love; eventually, however, all comes right. Honeywood promises to “reserve his pity for real distress, and his friendship for real merit.”

Sir William Honeywood, uncle of Mr. Honeywood “the good-natured man.” Sir William sees with regret the faults of his nephew, and tries to correct them. He is a dignified and high-minded gentleman.—Goldsmith, The Good-natured Man (1767).

Hono´ra, daughter of General Archas, “the loyal subject” of the great-duke of Moscovia, and sister of Viola.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Loyal Subject (1618).

Hono´ria, a fair but haughty dame, greatly loved by Theodore of Ravenna; but the lady “hated him alone,” and, “the more he loved the more she disdained.” One day she saw the ghost of Guido Cavalcanti hunting with two mastiffs a damsel who despised his love and who was doomed to suffer a year for every month she had tormented him. Her torture was to be hunted by dogs, torn to pieces, disemboweled, and restored to life again every Friday. This vision so acted on the mind of Honoria, that she no longer resisted the love of Theodore, but, “with the full consent of all, she changed her state.”—Dryden, Theodore and Honoria (a poem).

⁂ This tale is from Boccaccio, Decameron (day v. 8).

Honour (Mrs.), the waiting gentlewoman of Sophia Western.—Fielding, Tom Jones (1749).

This is worse than Sophy Western and Mrs. Honour about Tom Jones’s broken arm.—Prof. J. Wilson.

Honour and Glory Griffiths. Captain Griffiths, in the reign of William IV., was so called because he used to address his letters to the Admiralty, to “Their Honours and Glories at the Admiralty.”

Honor is often personified by the poets. Emerson said of Judge Hoar, “When he sat upon the bench, Honor came and sat beside him.”

Honors (Crushed by His or Her).

Tarpeia (3 syl.), daughter of Tarpeius (governor of the citadel of Rome), promised to open the gates to Tatius, if his soldiers would give her the ornaments they wore on their arms. As the soldiers entered the gate, they threw on her their shields, and crushed her to death, saying, “These are the ornaments we Sabines wear on our arms.”

Draco, the Athenian legislator, was crushed to death in the theatre of Ægīna by the number of caps and cloaks showered on him by the audience, as a mark of honor.

Elagab´alus, the Roman emperor, invited the leading men of Rome to a banquet, and, under pretense of showing them honor, rained roses upon them till they were smothered to death.

Hood (Riley), smart boy who is willing 181that his grandmother “may pit Gener’l Washington an’ the old man Noah agin one ’nother right at the door of the ark,” provided his father does not compel him to authenticate her stories or be thrashed.—Richard Malcolm Johnston, Other Georgia Folk (1887).

Hood (Robin), a famous English outlaw. Stow places him in the reign of Richard I., but others make him live at divers periods between Cœur de Lion and Edward II. His chief haunt was Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire. Ancient ballads abound with anecdotes of his personal courage, his skill in archery, his generosity, and great popularity. It is said that he robbed the rich, but gave largely to the poor, and protected women and children with chivalrous magnanimity. The ballad, “The Death of Robin Hood,” says that he was treacherously bled to death by his sister, the Prioress of the Abbey of Kirklees.

Stukeley asserts that Robin Hood was Robert Fitzooth, earl of Huntingdon; and it is probable that his name hood, like capet given to the French king of the Hugues, refers to the cape or hood which he usually wore.

⁂ The chief incidents of his life are recorded by Stow. Ritson has collected a volume of songs, ballads, and anecdotes called Robin Hood ... that Celebrated English Outlaw (1795). Sir W. Scott has introduced him in his famous novel Ivanhoe, which makes the outlaw contemporary with Cœur de Lion.

Robin Hood’s Men. The most noted of his followers were Little John, whose surname was Nailor; his chaplain, Friar Tuck; William Scarlet, Scathelooke (2 syl.), or Scadlock, sometimes called two brothers; Will Stutly or Stukely; Mutch, the miller’s son; and the maid Marian.

Hookem (Mr.), partner of lawyer Clip-purse at Waverley Honor.—Sir. W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Hooker (Thomas). In his eulogy upon Master Thomas Hooker, Cotton Mather “invites the reader to behold at once the wonders of New England, and it is in one Thomas Hooker that he shall behold them.”—Cotton Mather, D. D., Magnolia Christi Americana (1702).

Hop (Robin), the hop plant.

Get into thy hop-yard, for now it is time

To teach Robin Hop on his pole how to climb.

T. Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good

Husbandry, xli. 17 (1557).

Hope. The name of the first woman, according to Grecian mythology, was Pandôra, made by Hephæstos (Vulcan) out of earth. She was called Pandôra (“all-gifted”) because all the deities contributed something to her charms. She married Epime´theus (4 syl.), in whose house was a box which no mortal might open. Curiosity induced Pandôra to peep into it, when out flew all the ills of humanity, and she had just time to close the lid to prevent the escape of Hope also.

When man and nature mourned their first decay ...

All, all forsook the friendless, guilty mind,

But Hope—the charmer lingered still behind.

Campbell, Pleasures of Hope, i. (1799).

Hope (The Bard of), Thomas Campbell, who wrote The Pleasures of Hope, in two parts (1777-1844).

Hope (Dorothy). An ingenuous, dimpled village girl, who attracts the fancy and satisfies the heart of a world-weary man.—Ellen Olney Kirk, Daughter of Eve (1889).

Hope (The Cape of Good), originally called “The Cape of Storms”Storms”.

182Similarly, the Euxine (i.e. “hospitable”) Sea was originallyoriginally called by the Greeks, the Axine (i.e. “the inhospitable”) Sea.

Hope Diamond (The), a blue brilliant, weighing 44-1/4 carats.

It is supposed that this diamond is the same as the blue diamond bought by Louis XIV. in 1608, of Tavernier. It weighed in the rough 112-1/4 carats, and after being cut 67-1/8 carats. In 1792 it was lost. In 1830 Mr. Daniel Eliason came into possession of a blue diamond without any antecedent history. This was bought by Mr. Henry Thomas Hope, and is called “The Hope Diamond.”

Hope of Troy (The), Hector.

[He] stood against them, as the Hope of Troy

Against the Greeks.

Shakespeare, 3 Henry VI. act ii. sc. 1 (1592).

Hopeful, a companion of Christian after the death of Faithful at Vanity Fair.—Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress, i, (1678).

Hope-on-High Bomby, a puritanical character, drawn by Beaumont and Fletcher.

“Well,” said Wildrake, “I think I can make a Hope-on-High Bomby as well as thou canst.”—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock, vii.

Hopkins (Matthew), of Manningtree, Essex, the witch-finder. In one year he caused sixty persons to be hanged as reputed witches.

Between three and four thousand persons suffered death for witchcraft between 1643 and 1661.—Dr. Z. Grey.

Hopkins (Nicholas), a Chartreux friar, who prophesied “that neither the king [Henry VIII.] nor his heirs should prosper, but that the duke of Buckingham should govern England.”

1st Gent. That devil-monk, Hopkins, hath made this mischief.

2nd Gent. That was he that fed him with his prophecies.

Shakespeare, Henry VIII. act ii. sc. 1 (1601).

Hop-o’-my-Thumb, a character in several nursery tales. Tom Thumb and Hop-o’-my-thumb are not the same, although they are often confounded with each other. Tom Thumb was the son of peasants, knighted by King Arthur, and was killed by a spider; but Hop-’o-my-thumb was a nix, the same as the German daumling, the French le petit pouce, and the Scotch Tom-a-lin or Tamlane. He was not a human dwarf, but a fay of usual fairy proportions.

Yon Stump-o’-the-gutter, yon Hop-o’-my-thumb,

Your husband must from Lilliput come.

Kane O’Hara, Midas (1778).

Horace, son of Oronte (2 syl.) and lover of Agnes. He first sees Agnes in a balcony, and takes off his hat in passing. Agnes returns his salute, “pour ne point manquer à la civilité.” He again takes off his hat, and she again returns the compliment. He bows a third time, and she returns his “politeness” a third time. “Il passe, vient, repasse, et toujours me fait a chaque fois révérence, et moi nouvelle révérence aussi je lui rendois.” An intimacy is soon established, which ripens into love. Oronte tells his son he intends him to marry the daughter of Enrique (2 syl.), which he refuses to do; but it turns out that Agnes is in fact Enrique’s daughter, so that love and obedience are easily reconciled.—Molière, L’école des Femmes (1662).

183Horace (The English). Ben Jonson is so called by Dekker the dramatist (1574-1637).

Cowley was preposterously called by George, duke of Buckingham “The Pindar, Horace, and Virgil of England” (1618-1667).

Horace (The French), Jean Macrinus or Salmon (1490-1557).

Pierre Jean de Béranger is called “The Horace of France,” and “The French Burns” (1780-1857).

Horace (The Portuguese), A. Ferreira (1528-1569).

Horace (The Spanish). Both Lupercio Argen´sola and his brother Bartolome are so called.

Horace de Brienne (2 syl.), engaged to Diana de Lascours; but after the discovery of Ogari´ta [alias Martha, Diana’s sister], he falls in love with her, and marries her with the free consent of his former choice.—E. Stirling, The Orphan of the Frozen Sea (1856).

Horatia, daughter of Horatius, “the Roman father.” She was engaged to Caius Curiatius, whom her surviving brother slew in the well-known combat of the three Romans and three Albans. For the purpose of being killed, she insulted her brother Publius in his triumph, and spoke disdainfully of his “patriotic love,” which he preferredpreferred to filial and brotherly affection. In his anger he stabbed his sister with his sword.—Whitehead, The Roman Father (1741).

Hora´tio, the intimate friend of Prince Hamlet.—Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1596).

Horatio, the friend and brother-in-law of Lord Al´tamont, who discovers by accident that Calista, Lord Altamont’s bride, has been seduced by Lothario, and informs Lord Altamont of it. A duel ensues between the bridegroom and the libertine, in which Lothario is killed; and Calista stabs herself.—N. Rowe, The Fair Penitent (1703).

Horatius, “the Roman father.” He is the father of the three Horatii chosen by the Roman Senate to espouse the cause of Rome against the Albans. He glories in the choice, preferring his country to his offspring. His daughter, Horatia, was espoused to one of the Curiatii, and was slain by her surviving brother for taunting him with murder under the name of patriotism. The old man now renounced his son, and would have given him up to justice, but king and people interposed in his behalf.

Publius Horatius, the surviving son of “the Roman father.” He pretended flight, and as the Curiatii pursued, “but not with equal speed,” he slew them one by one as they came up.—Whitehead, The Roman Father, (1741).

Horatius [Cocles], captain of the bridge-gate over the Tiber. When Por´sĕna brought his host to replace Tarquin on the throne, the march on the city was so sudden and rapid that the consul said, “The foe will be upon us before we can cut down the bridge.” Horatius exclaimed, “If two men will join me, I will undertake to give the enemy play till the bridge is cut down.” Spurius Lartius and Herminius volunteered to join him in this bold enterprise. Three men came against them and were cut down. Three others met the same fate. Then the lord of Luna came with his 184brand, “which none but he could wield,” but the Tuscan was also despatched. Horatius then ordered his two companions to make good their escape, and they just crossed the bridge as it fell in with a crash. The bridge being down, Horatius threw himself into the Tiber and swam safe to shore, amidst the applauding shouts of both armies.—Lord Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome (“Horatius,” 1842).

Horn (King), hero of a French metrical romance, the originaloriginal of our Childe Horne or The Geste of Kyng Horn. The French romance is ascribed to Maistre Thomas; and Dr. Percy thinks the English romance is of the twelfth century, but this is probably at least a century too early.

Horn of Chastity and Fidelity.

Morgan la Faye sent King Arthur a drinking-horn, from which no lady could drink who was not true to her husband, and no knight who was not feal to his liege lord. Sir Lamorake sent this horn as a taunt to Sir Mark, king of Cornwall.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, (1470).

Ariosto’s enchanted cup.

The cuckold’s drinking-horn, from which “no cuckold could drink without spilling the liquor.”

Horner (Jack), the little boy who sat in a corner to eat his Christmas pie, and thought himself wondrously clever because he contrived to pull out a plum with his thumb.

Little Jack Horner sat in a corner,

Eating a Christmas pie;

He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum,

Saying, “What a good boy am I!”

Nursery Rhyme.

In Notes and Queries, xvi. 156, several explanations are offered, ascribing a political meaning to the words quoted—Jack Horner being elevated to a king’s messenger or king’s steward, and “the plum” pulled out so cleverly being a valuable deed which the messenger abstracted.

Horse. The first to ride and tame a horse for the use of man was Melizyus, king of Thessaly. (See Melizyus).

Horse (The Black), the 7th Dragoon Guards (not the 7th Dragoons). They have black velvet facings, and their plume is black and white. At one time they rode black horses.

Horse (The Green), the 5th Dragoon Guards. (These are called “The Princess Charlotte of Wales’s ...”). Facings dark green velvet, but the plume is red and white.

Horse (The White), the 3d Dragoon Guards. (These(These are called “The Prince of Wales’s ...”).

⁂ All the Dragoon Guards have velvet facings, except the 6th (or “Carabiniers”), which have white cloth facings. By facings are meant the collar and cuffs.

N.B.—“The white horse within the Garter” is not the heraldic insignia of the White Horse Regiment or 3d Dragoon Guards, but of the 3d Hussars (or “The King’s Own”), who have also a white plume. This regiment used to be called “The 3d Light Dragoons.”

Horse (The Royal), the Blues.

Horse (The Wooden), a huge horse constructed by Ulysses and Diomed, for secreting soldiers. The Trojans were told by Sinon it was an offering made by the Greeks to the sea-god, to ensure a safe 185home-voyage, adding that the blessing would pass from the Greeks to the Trojans if the horse were placed within the city walls. The credulous Trojans drew the monster into the city; but at night Sinon released the soldiers from the horse and opened the gates to the Greek army. The sentinels were slain, the city fired in several places, and the inhabitants put to the sword. The tale of the “Wooden Horse” forms no part of Homer’s Iliad, but is told by Virgil in his Æne´id. Virgil borrowed the tale from Arctīnos of Milētus, one of the Cyclic poets, who related the story of the “Wooden Horse” and the “burning of Troy.”

⁂ A very similar strategem was employed in the seventh century A.D. by Abu Obeidah in the siegesiege of Arrestan, in Syria. He obtained leave of the governor to deposit in the citadel some old lumber which impeded his march. Twenty boxes (filled with soldiers) were accordingly placed there, and Abu, like the Greeks, pretended to march homewards. At night the soldiers removed the sliding bottoms of the boxes, killed the sentries, opened the city gates, and took the town.—Ockley, History of the Saracens, i. 185.

The capture of Sark was affected by a similar trick. A gentleman of the Netherlands, with one ship, asked permission of the French to bury one of his crew in the chapel. The request was granted, but the coffin was full of arms. The pretended mourners, being well provided with arms, fell on the guards and took the island by surprise.—Percy, Anecdotes, 249.

Horse (Merlin’s Wooden), Clavilēno. This was the horse on which Don Quixote effected the disenchantment of the infanta Antonomāsia and others.

Horse (The Enchanted), a wooden horse with two pegs. By turning one the horse rose into the air, and by turning the other it descended where and when the rider listed. It was given by an Indian to the shah of Persia, as a New Year’s gift.—Arabian Nights (“The Enchanted Horse”), and Chaucer (“The Squire’s Tale”).

Horse (The Fifteen points of a good).

A good horse sholde have three propyrtees of a man, three of a woman, three of a foxe, three of a haare, and three of an asse. Of a man, bolde, prowde, and hardye. Of a woman, fayre-breasted, faire of heere, and easy to move. Of a foxe, a fair taylle, short eers, with a good trotte. Of a haare, a grate eye, a dry head, and well rennynge. Of an asse, a bygge chynn, a flat legge, and a good hoof.—Wynkyn de Worde (1496).

Horse Neighing. On the death of Smerdis, the several competitors for the Persian crown agreed that he whose horse neighed first should be appointed king. The horse of Darius neighed first and Darius was made king. Lord Brooke calls him a Scythian; he was son of Hystaspês, the satrap.

The brave Scythian

Who found more sweetness in his horse’s neighing

Than all the Phrygian, Dorian, Lydian playing.

Lord Brooke.

Horse Painted. Apellês of Cos painted Alexander’s horse so wonderfully well that a real horse seeing it, began to neigh at it, supposing it to be alive.

Myron, the statuary, made a cow so true to life that it was said to have deceived men and animals.

Valasquez painted a Spanish admiral so true to life that Philip IV., mistaking it for the officer himself, reproved him sharply for wasting his time in a painter’s studio, when he ought to have been with his fleet.

186Xeuxis painted some grapes so admirably that birds flew at them, thinking them real fruit.

Parrhasios of Ephesus painted a curtain so inimitably that Xeuxis thought it to be a real curtain, and bade the artist draw it aside that he might see the painting behind.